With its long duration and high gain antenna (HGA) feed thermal constraint; the NASA Solar-TErestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) solarconjunction mission phase is quite unique to deep space operations. Originally designed for a two year heliocentric orbit mission to primarily study coronal mass ejection propagation, after 8 years of continuous science data collection, the twin STEREO observatories entered the solarconjunction mission phase, for which they were not designed. Nine months before entering conjunction, an unforeseen thermal constraint threatened to stop daily communications and science data collection for 15months. With a 3.5 month long communication blackout from the superiorsolarconjunction, without ground commands, each observatory will reset every 3 days, resulting in 35 system resets at an Earth range of 2 AU. As the observatories will be conjoined for the first time in 8 years, a unique opportunity for calibrating the same instruments on identical spacecraft will occur. As each observatory has lost redundancy, and with only a limited fidelity hardware simulator, how can the new observatory configuration be adequately and safely tested on each spacecraft? Without ground commands, how would a 3-axis stabilized spacecraft safely manage the ever accumulating system momentum without using propellant for thrusters? Could science data still be collected for the duration of the solarconjunction mission phase? Would the observatories survive? In its second extended mission, operational resources were limited at best. This paper discusses the solutions to the STEREO superiorsolarconjunction operational challenges, science data impact, testing, mission operations, results, and lessons learned while implementing.

Simultaneous dual-frequency Ka-band (32 GHz) and X-band (8.4 GHz) carrier signal data have been acquired during the superiorconjunction of the Cassini spacecraft June 2001, using the NASA Deep Space Network's facilities located in Goldstone, California. The solar elongation angle of the observations varied from -4.1 degrees (-16 solar radii) to -0.6 degrees (-2.3 solar radii). The observed coronal and solar effects on the signals include spectral broadening, amplitude scintillation, phase scintillation, and increased noise. The measurements were generally consistent with existing solar models, except during solar transient events when the signatures of the measurements were observed to increase significantly above the quiet background levels. This is the second solarconjunction of Cassini for which simultaneous X/Ka data were acquired. Both solarconjunctions, conducted in May 2000 and June 2001, occurred near the peak of the current 11 year solar cycle.

The Ulysses spacecraft will pass through superiorsolarconjunction on March 5 1995, a few days before its perihelion and passage through the ecliptic plane. Dual-frequency S/X-band ranging and Doppler observations will be conducted in support of the Ulysses Solar Corona Experiment (SCE) during a three-week interval centered on the conjunction. The occultation geometry is unique in the annals of interplanetary exploration. As viewed from Earth, the spacecraft will appear to cut diagonally through the southwest quadrant of the solar corona from the South Pole to the equator. The minimum proximate distance to the Sun of the radio ray path will be 21.6 solar radius. The entire latitude scan from pole to equator occurs for a limited range of solar offset distances (is less than 30 solar radius thus facilitating the separation of latitudinal from radial variations in the coronal density and associated parameters of interest.

Full Text Available A large portion of patients applying to the eye clinics are patients suffering from conjunctivitis. Conjunctivitis is an inflammation of the eye conjunctival layer, and bacterial, viral, chlamydial, neonatal conjunctivitis, allergic conjunctivitis, giant papillary conjunctivitis, and irritative conjunctivitis are recognized. The purpose of this paper is to give basic information about conjunctivitis which is an inflammatory disease of the anterior segment and one of the causes of red eye, to illustrate its characteristics and symptoms as well as the laboratory tests used in the differential diagnosis, and to describe the types of treatments that are to be used. (Turk J Ophthalmol 2012; 42: Supplement 48-51

low as 2.10-14 at integration times of 1000 s, offering a range rates accuracy of about 0.003 mm/s. An immediate consequence of such results is the dramatic navigation accuracy improvement which can be obtained calibrating for solar plasma the Doppler observable used by the Orbit Determination Program (ODP). discussed in detail. First, the algorithm to reconstruct the sky frequencies from wideband open loop data is illustrated and, using a simple model of the orbital dynamics, the obtained residuals are characterized in terms of Allan deviations and power spectra. We then show how the plasma calibration scheme, used to generate plasma free observable for each band, leads to a much improved signal stability and to a reduced spectral density. Using the raw and calibrated sky frequencies in the ODP, a thorough comparison is performed among the Doppler frequency residuals obtained from 1) uncalibrated X-band data, 2) uncalibrated Ka-band data, and 3) calibrated X and Ka-band data. Our results show that the plasma free observable generation allows the use of actual data in the orbit determination process, even when the S/C has an impact parameter of about 5 solar radii, well into a superiorconjunction.

In conjunction with the total solar eclipse on July 11, 2010 we coordinated a campaign between ground and space based observations. Our specific goal was to augment the ground based measurement of corona) prominence cavity temperatures made using iron lines in the IR (Habbal et al. 2010 ApJ 719 1362) with measurements performed by space based instruments. Included in the campaign were Hinode/EIS, XRT and SOT, PROBA2/SWAP, SDO/AIA, SOHO/CDS and STEREO/SECCHI/EUVI, in addition to the ground based IR measurements. We plan to use a combination of line ratio and forward modeling techniques to investigate the density and temperature structure of the cavities at that time.

A polythiophene derivative called PDCBT, which has a backbone of thiophene units and just carboxylate functional groups to modulate its properties, exhibits properties superior to those of poly(3-hexylthiophene), the classic polythiophene derivative, when used as an electron donor in polymer solar cells (PSCs). The best device, based on PDCBT/PC71BM (1:1), develops a good power conversion efficiency of 7.2%.

Chemical composition and film quality are two key figures of merit for large-area high-efficiency perovskite solar cells. To date, all studies on mixed perovskites have used solution-processing, which results in imperfect surface coverage and pin-holes generated during solvent evaporation, execrably influencing the stability and efficiency of perovskite solar cells. Herein, we report our development using a vacuum co-evaporation deposition method to fabricate pin-hole-free cesium (Cs)-substituted perovskite films with complete surface coverage. Apart from the simplified procedure, the present method also promises tunable band gap, reduced trap-state density and longer carrier lifetime, leading to solar cell efficiency as high as 20.13%, which is among the highest reported for planar perovskite solar cells. The splendid performance is attributed to superior merits of the Cs-substituted perovskite film including tunable band gap, reduced trap-state density and longer carrier lifetime. Moreover, the Cs-substituted perovskite device without encapsulation exhibits significantly higher stability in ambient air compared with the single-component counterpart. When the Cs-substituted perovskite solar cells are stored in dark for one year, the PCE remains at 19.25%, degrading only 4.37% of the initial efficiency. The excellent stability originates from reduced lattice constant and relaxed strain in perovskite lattice by incorporating Cs cations into the crystal lattice, as demonstrated by the positive peak shifts and reduced peak width in X-ray diffraction analysis.

ZnO nanowires/Cu{sub 4}Bi{sub 4}S{sub 9} (ZnO/CBS) and ZnO nanowires/CBS-graphene nanoplates (ZnO/CBS-GNs), as well as two types of solar cells were prepared. The photovoltaic responses of CBS-GNs and ZnO/CBS-GNs can be improved with incorporation of GNs. The transient surface photovoltage (TPV) can provide detailed information on the separation and transport of photogenerated carriers. The multichannel separation process from the TPVs indicates that the macro-photoelectric signals can be attributed to the photogenerated charges separated at the interface of CBS/GNs, rather than CBS/ZnO. The multi-interfacial recombination is the major carrier loss, and the hole selective p-V{sub 2}O{sub 5} can efficiently accelerate the charge extraction to the external circuit. The ZnO/CBS-GNs cell exhibits the superior performance, and the highest efficiency is 10.9%. With the adequate interfaces of CBS/GNs, GNs conductive network, energy level matching, etc., the excitons can easily diffuse to the interface of CBS/GNs, and the separated electrons and holes can be collected quickly, inducing the high photoelectric properties. Here, a facile strategy for solid state solar cells with superior performance presents a potential application.

ZnO nanowires/Cu4Bi4S9 (ZnO/CBS) and ZnO nanowires/CBS-graphene nanoplates (ZnO/CBS-GNs), as well as two types of solar cells were prepared. The photovoltaic responses of CBS-GNs and ZnO/CBS-GNs can be improved with incorporation of GNs. The transient surface photovoltage (TPV) can provide detailed information on the separation and transport of photogenerated carriers. The multichannel separation process from the TPVs indicates that the macro-photoelectric signals can be attributed to the photogenerated charges separated at the interface of CBS/GNs, rather than CBS/ZnO. The multi-interfacial recombination is the major carrier loss, and the hole selective p-V2O5 can efficiently accelerate the charge extraction to the external circuit. The ZnO/CBS-GNs cell exhibits the superior performance, and the highest efficiency is 10.9%. With the adequate interfaces of CBS/GNs, GNs conductive network, energy level matching, etc., the excitons can easily diffuse to the interface of CBS/GNs, and the separated electrons and holes can be collected quickly, inducing the high photoelectric properties. Here, a facile strategy for solid state solar cells with superior performance presents a potential application.

An event of Cluster-Double Star conjunction observations of magnetic reconnec-tion at high latitude magnetopause nightside of both cusps and solar wind trans-port into magnetosphere caused by such reconnection process has been investi-gated. During northward IMF, Cluster/SC1 observed accelerated flows and ion heating associated with magnetic reconnection at high latitude magnetopause night$1de of southern cusp. And Double Star observed cold dense solar wind plasma transported into dayside magnetosphere. The analysis on such conjunction observations shows that: (1) during northward IMF, magnetic reconnection occurs at high latitude nightside of southern cusp, accompanied by accelerated flows that are observed by Cluster/SC1; (2) the direction of the accelerated flows, with its sunward component Vx, dawnward component Vy, northward component Vz, is quite consistent with the theoretical anticipation under the condition of northward IMF with dawnward component By; (3) reconnection can heat plasma more in par-allel direction than in perpendicular direction, to a level of about 4 keV; (4) with reconnection taking place at high latitude magnetopause nightside of the southern cusp, TC-1 observed cold and dense plasma transported into magnetosphere; (5) by reconnection at high latitude magnetopause nightside of both cusps, solar wind flux tube can be captured by magnetosphere and pulled into dayside magneto-sphere.

An event of Cluster-Double Star conjunction observations of magnetic reconnec-tion at high latitude magnetopause nightside of both cusps and solar wind trans-port into magnetosphere caused by such reconnection process has been investi-gated. During northward IMF, Cluster/SC1 observed accelerated flows and ion heating associated with magnetic reconnection at high latitude magnetopause nightside of southern cusp. And Double Star observed cold dense solar wind plasma transported into dayside magnetosphere. The analysis on such conjunction observations shows that: (1) during northward IMF, magnetic reconnection occurs at high latitude nightside of southern cusp, accompanied by accelerated flows that are observed by Cluster/SC1; (2) the direction of the accelerated flows, with its sunward component Vx, dawnward component Vy, northward component Vz, is quite consistent with the theoretical anticipation under the condition of northward IMF with dawnward component By; (3) reconnection can heat plasma more in par-allel direction than in perpendicular direction, to a level of about 4 keV; (4) with reconnection taking place at high latitude magnetopause nightside of the southern cusp, TC-1 observed cold and dense plasma transported into magnetosphere; (5) by reconnection at high latitude magnetopause nightside of both cusps, solar wind flux tube can be captured by magnetosphere and pulled into dayside magneto-sphere. This event presents further observational evidence for magnetic reconnec-tion at high latitude magnetopause nightside of both cusps as an important mech-anism of sol-ar w-ind transport into magnetosphere.

ECN and partners have developed a fabrication process based on nanoimprint lithography (NIL) of textures for light trapping in thin film solar cells such as thin-film silicon, OPV, CIGS and CdTe. The process can be applied in roll-to-roll mode when using a foil substrate or in roll-to-plate mode when using a glass substrate. The lacquer also serves as an electrically insulating layer for cells if steel foil is used as substrate, to enable monolithic series interconnection. In this paper we will show the superior light trapping in thin film silicon solar cells made on steel foil with nanotextured back contacts. We have made single junction a-Si and {mu}c-Si and a-Si/{mu}c-Si tandem cells, where we applied several types of nano-imprints with random and periodic structures. We will show that the nano-imprinted back contact enables more than 30% increase of current in comparison with non-textured back contacts and that optimized periodic textures outperform state-of-the-art random textures. For a-Si cells we obtained Jsc of 18 mA/cm{sup 2} and for {mu}c-Si cells more than 24 mA/cm{sup 2}. Tandem cells with a total Si absorber layer thickness of only 1350 nm have an initial efficiency of 11%.

Three heteroleptic polypyridyl ruthenium complexes, RC-41, RC-42, and RC-43, with efficient electron-donating antennas in the ancillary ligands were designed, synthesized, and characterized as sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cell. All the RC dye sensitizers showed remarkable light-harvesting capacity and broadened absorption range. Significantly, RC-43 obtained the lower energy metal-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) band peaked at 557 nm with a high molar extinction coefficient of 27 400 M(-1) cm(-1). In conjunction with TiO2 photoanode of submicrospheres and iodide-based electrolytes, the DSSCs sensitizing with the RC sensitizers, achieved impressively high short-circuit current density (19.04 mA cm(-2) for RC-41, 19.83 mA cm(-2) for RC-42, and 20.21 mA cm(-2) for RC-43) and power conversion efficiency (10.07% for RC-41, 10.52% for RC-42, and 10.78% for RC-43). The superior performances of RC dye sensitizers were attributed to the enhanced light-harvesting capacity and incident-photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) caused by the introduction of electron-donating antennas in the ancillary ligands. The interfacial charge recombination/regeneration kinetics and electron lifetime were further evaluated by the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and transient absorption spectroscopy (TAS). These data decisively revealed the dependences on the photovoltaic performance of ruthenium sensitizers incorporating electron-donating antennas.

include the full (pure) conjunction, the partial conjunction, the arithmetic mean, the partial disjunction, and the full (pure) disjunction. GCD enables a continuous transition from the full conjunction to the full disjunction, using a parameter that specifies a desired level of conjunction (andness...

This article shows how we have approached the solar energy installations in the ''Centro integrado de FP superior de energias renovables de Imarcoain''(Navarra) with the design and construction of models which allow us to teach in this type of installations at different levels. (Author)

Fe3O4-TiO2 nanosheets (Fe3O4-TNS) were synthesized by means of lamellar reverse micelles and solvothermal method, which were characterized by TEM, XRD, XPS, BET, and magnetic property analysis. It can be found that Fe3O4-TNS nanosheets exhibited better photocatalytic antibacterial activity toward Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus than pure Fe3O4 and TNS, and the antibacterial efficiency could reach 87.2% and 93.7% toward E. coli and S. aureus with 100 μg/mL Fe3O4-TNS after 2 h of simulated solar light illumination, respectively. The photocatalytic destruction of bacteria was further confirmed by fluorescent-based cell live/dead test and SEM images. It was uncovered that Fe3O4-TNS inactivated G- E. coli and G+ S. aureus by different mechanisms: the destruction of outer membranes and ruptured cell bodies were responsible for the bactericidal effect against E. coli, while the antibacterial effect toward S. aureus were due to the fact that the cells were adsorbed in form of clusters by massive Fe3O4-TNS, which could restrict their activities and cause malfunction of the selective permeable barriers. Furthermore, the antibacterial mechanism was studied by employing scavengers to understand exact roles of different reactive species, indicating the key roles of h(+) and H2O2. The recovery and reusability experiments indicated that Fe3O4-TNS still retained more than 90% bacteria removal efficiency even after five cycles. Considering the easy magnetic separation, bulk availability, and high antibacterial activity of Fe3O4-TNS, it is a promising candidate for cleaning the microbial contaminated water environment.

One hundred forty-three patients (207 eyes) with conjunctivitis or blepharoconjunctivitis were investigated to determine (1) the safety of topical corticosteroid therapy and the relative efficacy of formulations of increasing potency and (2) the effectiveness of a steroid-antibiotic preparation compared to each of its components alone and to a placebo. The corticosteroids were equally effective in suppressing conjunctival inflammation; all were more effective than the placebo. Active conjunctivitis was controlled more readily by those preparations containing a steroid, both alone and in combination. The corticosteroid alone (dexamethasone) was more effective in producing inactivation of conjunctivitis than the antibiotic alone ( a mixture of neomycin sulfate and polymyxin B sulfate). This observation remained unchanged when cases of Staphylococcus aureus conjunctivitis were analyzed separately. No serious complications resulted from any treatment regimen.

... you have allergic conjunctivitis. Preventing the spread of pink eye Practice good hygiene to control the spread ... can return to school or child care. Preventing pink eye in newborns Newborns' eyes are susceptible to ...

The generalized conjunction/disjunction function (GCD) is a continuous logic function of two or more variables that integrates conjunctive and disjunctive properties in a single function. It is used as a mathematical model of simultaneity and replaceability of inputs. Special cases of this function......) or disjunction (orness). In this paper, we investigate and compare various versions of GCD and other mathematical models of simultaneity and replaceability that are applicable in the areas of system evaluation, and information retrieval....

Due to its high scalability and low production cost, CdTe has shown a significant potential for high mass production, resulting to be one of the cheapest photovoltaic technologies available. Efficiencies exceeding 20% have been obtained by the application of high temperature CdTe deposition. However tellurium scarcity is a limitation for mass production and one of the possibilities to overcome this is the reduction of absorber thickness. We have already demonstrated efficiencies above 11% for devices with 1.5 μm thick CdTe. Nowadays we have fabricated ultra-thin absorber devices performing more than 13% efficiencies. But what is most interesting is that we have observed a different electrical operation and stability, connected to the fact that the depletion region takes a very large part of the device. In this work many CdTe solar cells with a standard Cu/Au back contact, made with different absorber thicknesses, were prepared, stored in dark and tested at different aging times, showing different reactions to the aging and in particular a remarkable stability as CdTe thickness reduces. - Highlights: • CdTe/CdS devices with 0.7, 1 and 1.8 μm thick absorbers have been prepared. • Superior stability in dark aging of ultra thin CdTe devices has been registered. • Electrical analysis shows different behaviors and nature of defects for thin CdTe samples. • For 6 μm CdTe samples degradation is driven mainly by defect compensation. • For ultra thin CdTe samples, degradation is dominated by impurities from the front contact.

According to the engineering case region meteorological data and solar resource characteristics,the solar energy centralized heating system in Conjunction with heat pump used in the hotel is analyzed based on saving benefits. By means of comprehensive analyzing of annual amount of energy saving,cost saving,payback period for the increase of the initial investment,as well as environmental benefits of the solar energy heat pump hot water system,it is indicated that solar energy heat pump hot water system project not only has the very high heat efficiency and environmental adaptability but also has high economy efficiency. It is a kind of heating water systems of ideal high quality.% 根据工程案例地区气象参数及太阳能资源特点，对已投入宾馆使用的太阳能热泵集中供热水系统进行节能效益分析。通过对太阳能热泵热水系统的年节能量，节省费用，系统增加的初投资的回收年限，以及太阳能热泵热水系统的环保效益进行综合分析。表明工程型太阳能热泵热水系统不仅具有很高的热效率和环境适应性同时具有较高的经济性，是一种理想的高品质供热水系统。

Full Text Available In this extended commentary I discuss the problem of how to account for "conjunctive" readings of some sentences with embedded disjunctions for globalist analyses of conversational implicatures. Following Franke (2010, 2009, I suggest that earlier proposals failed, because they did not take into account the interactive reasoning of what else the speaker could have said, and how else the hearer could have interpreted the (alternative sentence(s. I show how Franke's idea relates to more traditional pragmatic interpretation strategies. doi:10.3765/sp.3.11 BibTeX info

Conjunctivitis and its treatment have been widely described in ancient Indian medicine, 50 cases of Conjunctivitis (Acute) were clinically studied with Glycyrrhiza glabra along with comparative approach of Chlorophenicol. 25 cases studied with Glycyrrhiza glabra have shown encouraging results from which the author concludes that, the drug has got a definite role in Conjunctivitis

In this article, hierarchical TiO2 microstructures (HM-TiO2) were synthesized by a simple solvothermal method adopting tetra-n-butyl titanate as the titanium source in a mixed solvent composed of N,N-dimethylformamide and acetic acid. Due to the high crystallinity and superior light-scattering ability, the resultant HM-TiO2 are advantageous as photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. When assembled to the entire photovoltaic device with C101 dye as a sensitizer, the pure HM-TiO2-based solar cells showed an ultrahigh photovoltage up to 0.853 V. Finally, by employing the as-obtained HM-TiO2 as the scattering layer and optimizing the architecture of dye-sensitized solar cells, both higher photovoltage and incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency value were harvested with respect to TiO2 nanoparticles-based dye-sensitized solar cells, resulting in a high power conversion efficiency of 9.79%. This work provides a promising strategy to develop photoanode materials with outstanding photoelectric conversion performance.

Objective: To assess the relationship between allergic conjunctivitis(AC) and allergic rhinitis(AR) in pediatric ophthalmology and E.N.T outpatient clinic. Methods:Eight hundred and ninety two patients were enrolled in survey during Mar. 2005～Jan. 2007, 407 allergic conjunctivitis cases were placed in the ophthalmology clinic group and 485 allergic rhinitis cases were from the E.N.T clinic.The comorbid disorders, histories, symptoms, signs of patients were recorded. Type 1 allergy was tested in 479 cases by a specific IgE antibody blood test. Eosinophils were detected in superficial conjunctival scrapings of the superior tarsal conjunctiva and mucosa surface scrapings of middle nasal meatus in 88 cases with both diseases. Results:302(74%), 374(92%), 116(29%) in 407 cases with allergic conjunctivitis had concomitant eczema, rhinitis and asthma, respectively; 334(69%), 430(89%), 145(30%) in 485 cases with allergic rhinitis had concomitant eczema, allergic conjunctivitis and asthma, respectively. The prevalence of allergic conjunctivitis concomitant allergic rhinitis and allergic rhinitis concomitant allergic conjunctivitis had no significant difference(x2=2.6, P＞0.05). The prevalence of allergic conjunctivitis and allergic rhinitis concomitant eczema and asthma also had no significant difference (x2=3.08; x2=0.21, P＞0.05). The degree of severity of two kinds of disease symptoms is not parallel, in the patients with seasonal allergic conjuctivitis(SAC) and perennial allergic conjunctivitis(PAC), the clinical signs of AR were always severer(x2=258.2, P＜0.05)than those of AC. However, the results coincided with the cases with vernal keratoconjuctivitis(VKC)(x2=66.5, P＜0.05); Eosinophils were revealed in 50(57%) conjunctival scrapings and nasal mucosa scrapings(x2=1.5, P＞0.05), 47(53%) cases had positive results in both scrapings. The main aeroallergens were house dust mites, house dust and fungi, and the main food-allergens were fish, crab and shrimp

Allergic conjunctivitis (AC), which may be acute or chronic, is associated with rhinitis in 30%-70% of affected individuals, hence the term allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (AR/C). Seasonal and perennial AC is generally milder than the more chronic and persistent atopic and vernal keratoconjunctivitis. Natural allergens like house dust mites (HDM), temperate and subtropical grass and tree pollen are important triggers that drive allergic inflammation in AC in the Asia-Pacific region. Climate change, environmental tobacco smoke, pollutants derived from fuel combustion, Asian dust storms originating from central/north Asia and phthalates may also exacerbate AR/C. The Allergies in Asia Pacific study and International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood provide epidemiological data on regional differences in AR/C within the region. AC significantly impacts the quality of life of both children and adults, and these can be measured by validated quality of life questionnaires on AR/C. Management guidelines for AC involve a stepped approach depending on the severity of disease, similar to that for allergic rhinitis and asthma. Topical calcineurin inhibitors are effective in certain types of persistent AC, and sublingual immunotherapy is emerging as an effective treatment option in AR/C to grass pollen and HDM. Translational research predominantly from Japan and Korea involving animal models are important for the potential development of targeted pharmacotherapies for AC.

The major objective of this program was the identification of superior, currently available organic heat transfer fluids for solar collector applications. Organic fluids used in the form of aqueous solutions were also to be identified. The required design and handling properties of the fluids were determined through a survey in which 115 designers and manufacturers of solar collectors and collection systems participated. A state-of-the-art survey of commercially available organic heat transfer fluids provided information on fifty fluids. These were grouped into nine classes. This report contains information on limiting, design, and handling properties of these fluids. The limiting properties affix the use temperature ranges of the fluids. The design properties include the following thermophysical data: densities, vapor pressures, viscosities, specific heats, thermal conductivities, heats of vaporization, and coefficients of thermal expansion. The handling properties include: compatibility and incompatibility, with construction materials, chemical sensitivity, ignitability, physiological effects, and biodegradability characteristics. Mutagenicity tests with Salmonella typhimurium bacteria, and ignitability tests were conducted with a number of fluids in this program. The properties of the fluids were analyzed with reference to the required design and handling properties established in the survey of collector manufacturers. Guidelines are provided for the selection of superior fluids to meet specific collector operational and compatibility requirements. These guidelines include the use of heat transfer efficiency factors, that were calculated or the temperature ranges for which thermophysical data were available.

The overall aim of this work was to examine the degradation of trimethoprim (TMP), which is an antibacterial agent, during the application of two advanced oxidation process (AOP) systems in secondary treated domestic effluents. The homogeneous solar Fenton process (hv/Fe(2+)/H2O2) and heterogeneous photocatalysis with titanium dioxide (TiO2) suspensions were tested. It was found that the degradation of TMP depends on several parameters such as the amount of iron salt and H2O2, concentration of TiO2, pH of solution, solar irradiation, temperature and initial substrate concentration. The optimum dosages of Fe(2+) and H2O2 for homogeneous ([Fe(2+)] = 5 mg L(-1), [H2O2] = 3.062 mmol L(-1)) and TiO2 ([TiO2] = 3 g L(-1)) for heterogeneous photocatalysis were established. The study indicated that the degradation of TMP during the solar Fenton process is described by a pseudo-first-order reaction and the substrate degradation during the heterogeneous photocatalysis by the Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetics. The toxicity of the treated samples was evaluated using a Daphnia magna bioassay and was finally decreased by both processes. The results indicated that solar Fenton is more effective than the solar TiO2 process, yielding complete degradation of the examined substrate within 30 min of illumination and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) reduction of about 44% whereas the respective values for the TiO2 process were ∼70% degradation of TMP within 120 min of treatment and 13% DOC removal.

Full Text Available Allergic conjunctivitis is a widely spread disease, which is often accompanied with an allergic rhinitis. According to the up to date recommendations, the treatment of the allergic rhino conjunctivitis is based on 3 key principles: elimination of the allergen, conducting an allergen targeted immunotherapy and pharmacotherapy. The medication treatment of the allergic rhino conjunctivitis should include antihistamines of the 2nd generation and/or intranasal corticosteroids. Their effectiveness was proven with the findings of numerous place controlled surveys; in most cases they are safe. The usage experience of the intranasal formulation of mometasone furoate (Nasonex shows that with a minimal biological availability of the medication and the absence of its influence upon the «hypothalamus–hypophysis–adrenal glands» system and growth of children, mometasone can be a medication of choice to treat children's rhino conjunctivitis.Key words: children, allergic conjunctivitis, treatment.

Full Text Available PbS : In and CdS quantum dots (QDs are sequentially assembled onto a nanocrystalline TiO2 film to prepare a PbS : In/CdS cosensitized photoelectrode for QD sensitized solar cells (QDSCs. The results show that PbS : In/CdS QDs have exhibited a significant effect in the light harvest and performance of the QDSC. In the cascade structure of the electrode, the reorganization of energy levels between PbS and TiO2 forms a stepwise structure of band-edge levels which is advantageous to the electron injection into TiO2. Energy conversion efficiency of 2.3% is achieved with the doped electrode, under the illumination of one sun (AM1.5, 100 mW cm2. Besides, a remarkable short circuit current density (up to 23 mA·cm−2 is achieved in the resulting PbS : In/CdS quantum dot sensitized solar cell, and the related mechanism is discussed.

One hundred forty-three patients (207 eyes) with conjunctivitis or blepharoconjunctivitis were studied. Attempts were made to establish an etiologic diagnosis by clinical and laboratory methods. The etiologic diagnosis that was made on the basis of the initial clinical examination correlated poorly with the results of standard laboratory tests. Conversely, the standard laboratory evaluation failed to establish a definitive diagnosis in the majority of cases. These findings suggest that the diagnostic dogmatism prevalent in conjunctivitis is unwarranted. Morphologic signs and routine laboratory tests leave us without a verified etiologic diagnosis in a substantial number of cases.¿

We provide the first formal foundation of SAND attack trees which are a popular extension of the well-known attack trees. The SAND at- tack tree formalism increases the expressivity of attack trees by intro- ducing the sequential conjunctive operator SAND. This operator enables the modeling of

To report two cases of cicatrizing conjunctivitis associated with paraneoplastic lichen planus. Case reports. Two patients were examined because of redness and discomfort in both eyes. A 63-year-old woman with follicular, small-cleaved cell lymphoma had cicatrizing conjunctivitis, stomatitis, vulvitis, and skin lesions. A 25-year-old man with malignant thymoma had cicatrizing conjunctivitis, erosive stomatitis, and penile papules. Histopathologic studies of conjunctiva and skin biopsy specimens in the first patient and labial biopsy specimens in the second revealed lichen planus. Paraneoplastic lichen planus is a possible cause of cicatrizing conjunctivitis associated with inflammatory skin and mucous membrane disease.

In multiple conjunction search, the target is not known in advance but is defined only with respect to the distractors in a given search array, thus reducing the contributions of bottom-up and top-down attentional and perceptual processes during search. This study investigated whether the superior visual search skills typically demonstrated by individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) would be evident in multiple conjunction search. Thirty-two children with ASD and 32 age- and nonverbal IQ-matched typically developing (TD) children were administered a multiple conjunction search task. Contrary to findings from the large majority of studies on visual search in ASD, response times of individuals with ASD were significantly slower than those of their TD peers. Evidence of slowed performance in ASD suggests that the mechanisms responsible for superior ASD performance in other visual search paradigms are not available in multiple conjunction search. Although the ASD group failed to exhibit superior performance, they showed efficient search and intertrial priming levels similar to the TD group. Efficient search indicates that ASD participants were able to group distractors into distinct subsets. In summary, while demonstrating grouping and priming effects comparable to those exhibited by their TD peers, children with ASD were slowed in their performance on a multiple conjunction search task, suggesting that their usual superior performance in visual search tasks is specifically dependent on top-down and/or bottom-up attentional and perceptual processes.

One-dimensional nanostructures containing heterojunctions by conjugated polymers, such as nanowires, are expected to greatly facilitate efficient charge transfer in bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells. Thus, a combined theoretical and experimental approach is pursued to explore spontaneous nanowire formation. A dissipative particle dynamics simulation is first performed to study the morphologies formed by rodlike polymers with various side-chain structures. The results surprisingly predict that conjugated polymers with branched side chains are well suited to form thermodynamically stable nanowires. Proof of this concept is provided via the design and synthesis of a branched polymer of regioregular poly(3-2-methylbutylthiophene) (P3MBT), which successfully demonstrates highly dense nanowire formation free from any stringent conditions and stratagies. In BHJ solar cells fabricated using a blend of P3MBT and [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC(71) BM), P3MBT polymers are self-organized into highly crystalline nanowires with a d(100) spacing of 13.30 Å. The hole mobility of the P3MBT:PC(71) BM (1:0.5 by weight) blend film reaches 3.83 × 10(-4) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) , and the maximum incident photon-to-current efficiency reaches 68%. The results unambiguously prove the spontaneous formation of nanowires using solution-processable conjugated polymers with branched alkyl side chains in BHJ solar cells.

Inventive concentrated solar power systems using solar receivers, and related devices and methods, are generally described. Low pressure solar receivers are provided that function to convert solar radiation energy to thermal energy of a working fluid, e.g., a working fluid of a power generation or thermal storage system. In some embodiments, low pressure solar receivers are provided herein that are useful in conjunction with gas turbine based power generation systems.

We study the optoelectronic properties of some recently synthesized D-A-D chromophores which are susceptible for superior intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) property. Our first principle calculations reveal that, the chromophores have enhanced charge transfer probability in the excited state in comparison to their corresponding ground states indicating faster electron injection at the interface of dye-semiconductor composites. We compute the photovoltaic properties of the dyes with and without substitution and way out a root for optimizing the device performance. Finally, dye-TiO2 QD composite systems are studied as a model for realistic photovoltaic device.

Full Text Available Manipulation of the optic nerve can lead to irreversible vision changes. We present a patient with a past medical history of skin allergy and allergic conjunctivitis (AC who presented with insidious unexplained unilateral vision loss. Physical exam revealed significant blepharospasm, mild lid edema, bulbar conjunctival hyperemia, afferent pupillary defect, and slight papillary hypertrophy. Slit lamp examination demonstrated superior and inferior conjunctival scarring as well as superior corneal scarring but no signs of external trauma or neurological damage were noted. Conjunctival cultures and cytologic evaluation demonstrated significant eosinophilic infiltration. Subsequent ophthalmoscopic examination revealed optic nerve atrophy. Upon further questioning, the patient admitted to vigorous itching of the affected eye for many months. Given the presenting symptoms, history, and negative ophthalmological workup, it was determined that the optic nerve atrophy was likely secondary to digital pressure from vigorous itching. Although AC can be a significant source of decreased vision via corneal ulceration, no reported cases have ever described AC-induced vision loss of this degree from vigorous itching and chronic pressure leading to optic nerve damage. Despite being self-limiting in nature, allergic conjunctivitis should be properly managed as extreme cases can result in mechanical compression of the optic nerve and compromise vision.

Full Text Available In visual search for conjunctions, targets are defined by combinations of features. Thus, targets might be RED VERTICAL items among RED horizontal and green VERTICAL distractors. Guided Search and similar models argue that features are conjoined only once an object is attended. However, efficient conjunction search is possible because observers can guide attention toward red and toward vertical. Real-world objects may be defined by the conjunction of many features, with no one feature defining the target. Can attention be guided to higher order conjunctions? We created 6D conjunction stimuli and varied the number of features shared between targets and distractors and the number of distractor types. RT x set size slopes range from 1.4 msec/item when two distractor types each share three features with the target to 66 msec/item when six distractor types each share five features with the target. Using different 3D conjunctions, we held distributions of features constant (1/3 of each of three colors, shapes, and orientations. We varied the grouping of distractors in order to look for evidence of simultaneous guidance by multiple attributes versus sequential grouping of subsets (Find the odd orientation in this color subset. We find that guidance and grouping may both contribute to efficient conjunction search.

Full Text Available Background: Conjunctivitis of the newborn is defined as hyperemia and eye discharge in the neonates and is a common infection occurring in the neonates in the first month of life. In the United States, the incidence of neonatal conjunctivitis ranges from 1-2%, in India, the prevalence is 0.5-33% and varies in the world from 0.9-21% depending on the socioeconomic status. Aim: To study the organisms causing conjunctivitis of the newborn and to correlate the etiology with the mode of delivery. Design: Single center, prospective, observational study. Materials and Methods: A total of 300 mothers and their newborns, born over a period of one year, were included in the study. Of these 200 newborns were delivered through vaginal route (Group A and 100 (Group B delivered by lower segment caesarean section (LSCS. At the time of labour, high vaginal swabs were taken from the mothers. Two conjunctival swabs each from both eyes of the newborn were collected at birth and transported to Microbiology department in a candle jar immediately. Results: Eight babies in Group A, developed conjunctivitis at birth. None of the babies in Group B developed conjunctivitis, this difference was statistically highly significant (P<0.000. The organisms found in the conjunctiva of the newborns in Group A were Coagulase negative Staphylococcus, α hemolytic Streptococcus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas spps. However, the commonest organism leading to conjunctivitis in the newborn in this study was Coagulase negative Staphylococcus. It was observed that the mothers of 5 out of 8 babies (60% developing conjunctivitis gave history of midwife interference and premature rupture of membranes so the presence of risk factors contribute to the occurrence of conjunctivitis in the newborn. Conclusions: It is inferred that the mode of delivery and the presence of risk factors is responsible for conjunctivitis in the newborn.

In this work, we demonstrate an electrospinning technique to fabricate TiO2 /upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs)/CdS nanofibers on large scale. In addition, the as-prepared TiO2 nanofibers are incorporated with a high population of UCNPs and CdS nanospheres; this results in Förster resonance energy-transfer configurations of the UCNPs, TiO2 , and CdS nanospheres that are in close proximity. Hence, strong fluorescent emissions for the Tm(3+) ions including the (1) G4 →(3) H6 transition are efficiently transferred to TiO2 and the CdS nanoparticles through an energy-transfer process. The as-prepared TiO2 /UCNPs/CdS nanofibers exhibit full-spectrum solar-energy absorption and enable the efficient degradation of organic dyes by fluorescence resonance energy transfer between the UCNPs and TiO2 (or CdS). The UCNPs/TiO2 /CdS nanofibers may also have enhanced energy-transfer efficiency for wide applications in solar cells, bioimaging, photodynamics, and chemotherapy.

Cost-effective counter electrode (CE) with high electrocatalytic performance is very much essential for the wide application of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). The 1D-2D carbon heterostructure (Pt/GR@CNT) with low platinum (Pt) loading has been synthesized by a facile in situ microwave-assisted polyol-reduction method. The excellent electrocatalytic activity as well as photovoltaic performance was achieved due to the combination of 2D graphene nanoribbons (GR) and 1D multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) with high catalytically active Pt nanoparticles. Microwave-assisted longitudinal unzipping of few outer layers of CNTs along with co-reduction of Pt nanoparticles is an effective method to create electrochemically active defective edge sites, which have a crucial role in enhancing electrochemical performance. Synergistic effect of ultra-fine Pt nanoparticles, partially unzipped graphene nanoribbons and inner core tubes of CNTs modulates the power conversion efficiency of solar cell to 5.57% ± 0.03 as compared with 4.73% ± 0.13 of CNTs. Pt/GR@CNT CE even with low Pt loading of 14 μg cm-2 showcases equivalent performance with that of pure Pt counter electrode.

The general use of adversative conjunction in (primarily) English and U.S. poetry is outlined. The contention is that the adversative is not merely a grammatical convenience but sometimes a highly functional tool of rhetorical strategy. (36 references) (LB)

During two years (1997-1999) an investigation of possible infections of chlamydial etiology in outpatients with follicular conjunctivitis was carried out, through the use of specific assays. Fifty-seven selected patients with presumptive inclusion conjunctivitis were diagnosed by means of ophthalmoscopic examination and bilateral tarsal-conjunctiva swabbing for microorganisms. The possible presence of Chlamydia trachomatis was tested by immunofluorescence microscopy and isolation in cell culture of McCoy line. Of the 57 conjunctivitis patients screened, 37 (65%) proved to be positive by cell culture (CC) and 27 (47%) by direct immunofluorescence (IFD). A good agreement between the two assays was observed, where the CC was more sensitive than IFD. Of these 37 patients with chlamydial conjunctivitis, 23 (62%) were women, with over one-third of them ranging in age from 45 to 65 years. Their clinical records revealed an evolution period of 1 to 12 months. Eighteen (78%) of these women reported previous genital pathology, while 4 (29%) of the 14 men had a history of urethritis by Chlamydia trachomatis. A high frequency of follicular conjunctivitis by Chlamydia (65%) in the screened patients was observed, without any evidence of urogenital signs and symptoms at the moment of the study.

The morphology, microstructure and crystallography of titanium dioxide (TiO2) have great effect on the photoelectric performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Herein, flower-like 3D TiO2 microstructures based on well-defined high-crystalline nanosheets are synthesized through a facile hydrothermal method. Especially, morphological evolution process and mechanism of this hierarchical structure are investigated. Due to the highly crystalline nature and smaller surface area of these nanosheets, the corresponding device shows an extremely high open-current voltage up to 0.84 V, which results from the less electron recombination. When applied as a scattering layer on top of the nanoparticle layer, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) can be significantly improved and give birth to a PCE value of 9.6%, which is 24.6% higher than that of an analogous device using nanoparticles (NP) (7.7%). As reflected by diffusion reflection spectra, intensity of the modulated photocurrent/photovoltage spectroscopy (IMPS/IMVS) and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS), this hierarchical structure can not only enhance light harvesting, but also reduce electron recombination, facilitate electron transport and improve electron collection efficiency.

Cobalt Sulfide (CoS2) counter electrodes (CE) with uniform size distribution were obtained on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate as counter electrodes for polysulfide redox electrolyte in CdS/CdSe/ ZnS quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) by chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique. In this study, we optimized the cobalt source, deposition temperature and time in the preparation of CoS2 thin film to achieve greater conversion efficiency with strong adhesion on FTO. Relative to the platinum (Pt) electrodes, the CoS2 electrode shows a higher catalytic activity, faster electron transport and lower chargetransfer resistance, which can play a role in rendering higher power conversion efficiency. As a result, QDSSCs with the optimized CoS2 CE achieved a higher short-circuit current density of 13.08 mA cm-2, open-circuit voltage of 0.47 V, fill factor of 0.34 and overall photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 2.17% obtained under one sun illumination (100 mW cm-2). Therefore, CoS2 CE can be used as a promising CE in QDSSCs with efficiency exceeding that of high-cost Pt-based cells (1.64%). [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Reasoning, solving mathematical equations, or planning written and spoken sentences all must factor in stimuli perceptual properties. Indeed, thinking processes are inspired by and subsequently fitted to concrete objects and situations. It is therefore reasonable to expect that the mental representations evoked when people solve these seemingly abstract tasks should interact with the properties of the manipulated stimuli. Here, we investigated the mental representations evoked by conjunction and disjunction expressions in language-picture matching tasks. We hypothesised that, if these representations have been derived using key Gestalt principles, reasoners should use perceptual compatibility to gauge the goodness of fit between conjunction/disjunction descriptions (e.g., the purple and/ or the green) and corresponding binary visual displays. Indeed, the results of three experimental studies demonstrate that reasoners associate conjunction descriptions with perceptually-dependent stimuli and disjunction descriptions with perceptually-independent stimuli, where visual dependency status follows the key Gestalt principles of common fate, proximity, and similarity.

Conjunction contributes to organizing and managing stretches of discourse, indicating the way the information is arranged. Successfully identifying these discourse markers is of great benefit to the reader to extract the required information from what he/she reads, especially for the candidates who are tested for their reading abilities in a given time, for these markers give clues to the reader and make the perception easier and save a lot of time. To teach students to explore reading skills and read successfully all by themselves, language teachers had better keep in mind the significance of conjunction and get students to share and apply it.

Conjunction Messages (CM) provided by JSpOC are complete and valuable data to evaluate the level of risk of conjunctions, decide and choose avoidance actions. Nevertheless, conjunction assessment remains a difficult task which requires Middle Man between the CM provider (JSpOC) and Owner/Operators. Operational collision threat characterization is now an essential component of space mission operations. Most spacecraft operators have some sort of a process to evaluate and mitigate high-risk conjunction events. As the size of the space object catalog increases, satellite operators will be faced with more conjunction events to evaluate. Thus more sophisticated collision threat characterization and collision avoidance strategies must be implemented thought Middle Man entities. CAESAR (Conjunction Analysis and Evaluation Service, Alerts and Recommendations) is the French Middle Man. CAESAR relies on a collaborative work environment between all members of CAESAR team and its subscribers. For CAESAR, the collaborative work environment is based on JAC software and a dedicated secure webserver SpOD Space Operational Data. JAC software is not the Main Flight Dynamics (FD) software used by CAESAR team, but it is a light friendly CM dedicated software to be used on a laptop by on-call teams or support dialogue between Middle Man and FD teams. The dedicated secure webserver is a key element to share data and information between actors. This paper presents the main feedbacks from CAESAR team operational experience with regards to its collaborative work environment components: - JAC software which is not a classical Flight Dynamics software, its MMI is designed to be very quickly taken over (by teams not using it on daily basis) while also offering all the expertise levels required by the Middle Man team. JAC is used by CAESAR on-call team and all FD teams who subscribed to CAESAR. JAC is also distributed by CNES and therefore already used by some operational teams for Conjunction

Anatase TiO2 nanocubes and nanoparallelepipeds, with highly reactive {111} facets exposed, were developed for the first time through a modified one pot hydrothermal method, through the hydrolysis of tetrabutyltitanate in the presence of oleylamine as the morphology-controlling capping-agent and using ammonia/hydrofluoric acid for stabilizing the {111} faceted surfaces. These nanocubes/nanoparallelepipeds were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and high angle annular dark-field scanning TEM (HAADF-STEM). Accordingly, a possible growth mechanism for the nanostructures is elucidated. The morphology, surface area and the pore size distribution of the TiO2 nanostructures can be tuned simply by altering the HF and ammonia dosage in the precursor solution. More importantly, optimization of the reaction system leads to the assembly of highly crystalline, high surface area, {111} faceted anatase TiO2 nanocubes/nanoparallelepipeds to form uniform mesoscopic void space. We report the development of a novel double layered photoanode for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) made of highly crystalline, self-assembled faceted TiO2 nanocrystals as upper layer and commercial titania nanoparticles paste as under layer. The bilayered DSSC made from TiO2 nanostructures with exposed {111} facets as upper layer shows a much higher power conversion efficiency (9.60%), than DSSCs fabricated with commercial (P25) titania powder (4.67%) or with anatase TiO2 nanostructures having exposed {101} facets (7.59%) as the upper layer. The improved performance in bilayered DSSC made from TiO2 nanostructures with exposed {111} facets as the upper layer is attributed to high dye adsorption and fast electron transport dynamics owing to the unique structural features of the {111} facets in TiO2. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements conducted on the cells supported these conclusions

The goal of this study is to characterize the temporal phenomena in the Korean conjunctive constructions. These constructions consist of three components: a verbal stem, a clause medial temporal suffix, and a clause terminal suffix. This study focuses on both the temporality of the terminal connective suffixes and the grammatical meanings of the…

A study of textual cohesion in the oral discourse of learners of English as a second language had as subjects 19 Asians from 4 language backgrounds, who were living and, in most cases, studying English in the United States. Analysis of taped conversations focused on the use of conjunctive adjuncts of three kinds: (1) simple adverbs (e.g., and,…

Full Text Available This article presents a case of anterior diffuse scleritis that initially was diagnosed as conjunctivitis. Anterior diffuse scleritis (ADS is a potentially vision-threatening inflammation of the sclera whose etiology may include autoimmune and systemic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and tuberculosis. The signs and symptoms of ADS include pain, tearing, tenderness, redness, painful sensitivity to light and decreased visual acuity. Ocular and physical examinations including blood tests to rule out underlying causes are important. Medications such as corticosteroids, non-steroidal anti-inflam-matory drugs and possibly immune-suppressants are used in the management of ADS. If care is not taken, ADS can be mis-diagnosed as conjunctivitis because the redness is similar in both conditions. Such mis-diagnosis can be sight-threatening and therefore it is essential that primary eye care practitioners are cautious in all diagnoses of red eye conditions. (S Afr Optom 2012 71(1 51-54

Conjunction Messages (CM) provided by JSpOC are complete and valuable data to evaluate the level of risk of conjunctions, decide and choose avoidance actions. Nevertheless, conjunction assessment remains a difficult task which requires Middle Man between the CM provider (JSpOC) and Owner/Operators. CAESAR (Conjunction Analysis and Evaluation Service, Alerts and Recommendations) is the French Middle Man. CAESAR relies on a collaborative work environment between CAESAR team and its subscribers. For CAESAR, the collaborative work environment is based on JAC software and a dedicated secure webserver. JAC software is not the Main Flight Dynamics (FD) software used by CAESAR team, but it is a light friendly CM dedicated software to be used on laptops by on-call teams or support dialogue between Middle Man and FD teams. This paper presents the main feedbacks from CAESAR team operational experience and how each new encountered issue has enriched JAC Software functions. JAC has got two levels: - JAC Basic version, to be aware of the situation described with CMs : automatic download of CM from websites with secure password management, capacity to manage CM from different providers, management of the downloaded CM database, visualization of the key data given by the different CM related to each close approach, visualization of the evolution of those key data through tables-graphs-3Danimations, capacity to copy/paste and edit CM data to illustrate sensibility of key parameters, capacity to use several pre-defined dispersions for each primary, printable summary of analysis, statistics on CM in database, - JAC Expert version, to take and validate a decision of avoidance action: sensitivity analysis to errors, thresholds chosen by the user, simulation of maneuvers on the satellite of interest to determine their effect in terms of mitigation of the identified risk. JAC Expert version also includes a monitoring capacity to enable 24/7 analysis. JAC Basic and JAC Expert are

In this report, we describe the first three cases of Tsukamurella conjunctivitis in the literature. All three patients presented with congestion of one eye with small amounts of serous discharge for 1 to 2 days. All three recovered after 10 days of treatment with polymyxin B-neomycin or chloramphenicol eyedrops. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA genes of the three isolates recovered from the serous discharge of the three patients showed that they were all Tsukamurella species. The phenotypic charact...

Full Text Available In the article I propose an analysis of the Danish causal conjunctions fordi, siden and for based on the framework of Danish Functional Grammar. As conjunctions they relate two clauses, and their semantics have in common that it indicates a causal relationship between the clauses. The causal conjunctions are different as far as their distribution is concerned; siden conjoins a subordinate clause and a main clause, for conjoins two main clauses, and fordi is able to do both. Methodologically I have based my analysis on these distributional properties comparing siden and fordi conjoining a subordinate and a main clause, and comparing for and fordi conjoining two main clauses, following the thesis that they would establish a causal relationship between different kinds of content. My main findings are that fordi establishes a causal relationship between the events referred to by the two clauses, and the whole utterance functions as a statement of this causal relationship. Siden presupposes such a general causal relationship between the two events and puts forward the causing event as a reason for assuming or wishing or ordering the caused event, siden thus establishes a causal relationship between an event and a speech act. For equally presupposes a general causal relationship between two events and it establishes a causal relationship between speech acts, and fordi conjoining two main clauses is able to do this too, but in this position it also maintains its event-relating ability, the interpretation depending on contextual factors.

Full Text Available The paper deals with the distribution of conjunctive and prepositional comparative structures in Slovenian. They are introduced by the complementiser kot and the preposition od, respectively. Comparative structures are categorised along three dimensions: (i the morphological environment of the comparative morpheme (yielding amount and quality comparatives; (ii the syntactic environment of the comparative morpheme (eight syntactic environments are discussed: (nominative subject, (accusative direct object, (dative indirect object, prepositional object, locative adverbial, temporal adverbial, some other adverbial, and predicate; (iii the syntactic environment (the same environments as above are discussed of the associate (the non-elided phrase in the comparative complement is the remnant; its counterpart with the same grammatical function in the matrix clause is the associate. The comparison of conjunctive and prepositional comparatives shows that the distribution of the latter is more restricted and also exhibits more inter-speaker variation than the former. Conjunctive comparatives are acceptable in virtually all combinations of the above-mentioned parameters, the only exception being quality comparatives withan adverbial or predicate associate where the comparative morpheme is embedded in the associate. The only absolute generalisation that can be made about prepositional comparatives is that the associate must be either a subject or a direct object; all other generalisations are merely tendencies.

Satellite conjunction risk typically evaluated through the probability of collision (Pc). Considers both conjunction geometry and uncertainties in both state estimates. Conjunction events initially discovered through Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) screenings, usually seven days before Time of Closest Approach (TCA). However, JSpOC continues to track objects and issue conjunction updates. Changes in state estimate and reduced propagation time cause Pc to change as event develops. These changes a combination of potentially predictable development and unpredictable changes in state estimate covariance. Operationally useful datum: the peak Pc. If it can reasonably be inferred that the peak Pc value has passed, then risk assessment can be conducted against this peak value. If this value is below remediation level, then event intensity can be relaxed. Can the peak Pc location be reasonably predicted?

Mast cell infiltration occurs in malignant, inflammatory (eg, allergic, infectious), and idiopathic disease processes in humans and animals. Here, we describe the clinical and histological features of a unique proliferative conjunctivitis occurring in 15 cats. Ocular specimens were examined histologically, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for feline herpesvirus 1 (FHV-1) was performed on ocular tissues obtained from 10 cats. Cats had a median age of 8 years (range: 7 months-17.5 years). The known median duration of ocular lesions prior to biopsy was 4 months (range: 1 week-3 years). Ocular disease was unilateral in 12 cats, and 9 cats had coexisting corneal disease. Clinically and histologically, proliferative or nodular conjunctival lesions were noted in 13 cats. The nictitating membrane was affected in 10 cats. Histologically, lesions were characterized by mixed inflammatory infiltrates with an abundance of Giemsa-positive and toluidine blue-positive intraepithelial and subepithelial mast cells, marked edema, and papillary epithelial hyperplasia. Feline herpesvirus 1 was demonstrated by PCR in 1 of 10 cats tested. Follow-up information was available for 14 cats: 8 had no recurrence during a median follow-up period of 17.5 months (range: 4.5-30 months), 2 underwent orbital exenteration, 3 had recurrence that was medically managed, and 1 cat had diffuse conjunctivitis at the time of biopsy and recurrence was deemed irrelevant. Various ocular medications were administered before and after surgical biopsy. This condition was designated as feline epitheliotropic mastocytic conjunctivitis, with intraepithelial mast cells being an essential feature and papillary epithelial proliferation being characteristic but not diagnostic alone. The condition appears to be uncommon and benign. Although the cause is unknown, an allergic component is possible.

We report here a case of conjunctivitis in an immunocompetent patient due to Achromobacter xylosoxidans, which was associated with the use of rigid contact lenses. The bacteria were isolated from the scraped conjunctival swab as well as from the lens cleaning fluid. A. xylosoxidans is an opportunistic pathogen, especially in immunocompromised patients; however, in isolates of ocular infections, from immunocompetent patients, it may be confused with other gram-negative organisms, particularly Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Due to an increased resistance against different antimicrobial agents, A. xylosoxidans must be fully identified and differentiated from other gram-negative isolates from ocular infections.

In this report, we describe the first three cases of Tsukamurella conjunctivitis in the literature. All three patients presented with congestion of one eye with small amounts of serous discharge for 1 to 2 days. All three recovered after 10 days of treatment with polymyxin B-neomycin or chloramphenicol eyedrops. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA genes of the three isolates recovered from the serous discharge of the three patients showed that they were all Tsukamurella species. The phenotypic characteristics of the isolate obtained from one patient best fit the phenotypic profile of Tsukamurella pulmonis, whereas those of the other two best fit that of Tsukamurella tyrosinosolvens.

Ten one-day workshops were held across the United States. Information in this workbook is compiled in conjunction with those workshops. The following discussions are included: solar as a fuel (history); why alternative fuels are being sought today; the need for conservation; advantages of solar energy; the potential of solar energy; why solar energy is not more widely used; a definition of solar; how solar can help meet energy demands; Federal policies and programs; what solar technologies exist today that can be effectively utilized (thermal applications, fuels from biomass, solar electric). Additional information is presented in three attachments: Energy-Conserving Methods; Domestic Policy Review of Solar Energy; and DOE Secretary's Annual Report to Congress-Solar Section. (MCW)

In two separate herds of fattening calves a sudden-onset outbreak of ocular disease with profuse lacrimation occurred. The disease resembled the early stage of infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis but after a few days the clinical signs of bronchopneumonia appeared. From conjunctival swabs Mycoplasma (M.) bovigenitalium, M. bovirhinis and infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) virus were isolated. Moraxella bovis infection was not established. In one of the herds M. bovigenitalium was also found in the pneumonic lungs of dead calves. In one herd M. bovoculi was isolated from a cow with chronic keratoconjunctivitis, housed together with affected calves. Mycoplasmas were not isolated from ocular swabs of six bulls originating from a Reproductive Centre with temporary occurrence of unilateral serous conjunctivitis resistant to antibiotic therapy.

Full Text Available The present research aims to investigate the distribution pattern of conjunctions and their ranking in two different corpora, namely the Malaysian school English language Textbook Corpus (Textbook Corpus and the British National Corpus (BNC. An additional objective of the study was to find out how conjunctions had been presented in the Malaysian school English language textbooks (Forms 1-5. The method applied was qualitative content analysis. The findings indicated that coordinating conjunctions were the most frequent conjunctions that occurred in the five textbooks followed by subordinating and correlative conjunctions. The ranking of the different types of conjunctions in the Textbook Corpus was similar to that of the reference corpus, BNC. The results also indicated that the textbooks failed to present conjunctions effectively. The findings are expected to help textbook developers or language teachers in developing or adapting learning materials. Keywords: Conjunctions, Textbook evaluation, Distribution patterns

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Bathymetry of Lake Superior has been compiled as a component of a NOAA project to rescue Great Lakes lake floor geological and geophysical data and make it more...

Four experiments were conducted to test whether conjunction errors were reduced after pictorial encoding and whether the semantic overlap between study and conjunction items would impact error rates. Across 4 experiments, compound words studied with a single-picture had lower conjunction error rates during a recognition test than those words…

Judgments under uncertainty are often mediated by intuitive heuristics that are not bound by the conjunction rule of probability. Representativeness and availability heuristics can make a conjunction appear more probable than one of its constituents. Alternative interpretations of this conjunction fallacy are discussed and attempts to combat it…

Full Text Available Background: Allergic conjunctivitis (AC may follow seasonal or perennial pattern. There are climatic and racial risk factors involved in some types of AC. It is more prevalent in warm climatic conditions and among Afro-Caribbeans, Arabs and Asians and less among the White populations. Clinical presentations also seem to follow climatic and genetic predisposition. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of AC and its clinical presentations in a hospital setting in this region in people of all ages. Materials and Methods: This is a hospital-based retrospective study of new patients seen at Adoose Specialist Hospital, Jos the capital city of Plateau State in North Central Nigeria with clinical diagnosis of AC from 2000 to 2009. Results: There were 972 subjects, 474 (48.8% males and 498 (51.2% females with M:F ratio of 1:1.05. The most common symptom was itching followed by redness, pains, watery/mucoid discharge, sticky eyes, puffy eyes and photophobia. The presence of papillae in the upper tarsal or lower conjunctiva, a discrete or confluent gelatinous hypertrophy of the limbal conjunctiva (Trantas dots, hyperpigmentation, hyperemia/chemosis of the conjunctiva were the common signs. AC was more prevalent in those aged 1−16 years 38.4% decreasing to 4.9% in the age group above 50 years. The presentation followed perennial pattern, with a peak around July. The most prevalent ocular comorbid condition was refractive error (distant RE and presbyopia in 15.4%, followed by pterygium/pinguecula 3.6%, bacterial conjunctivitis in 2.2%, glaucoma 2.1% and eyelid disorders 1.7%. Cataract was present in1.3%, and keratopathy1.1%. Other conditions such as episcleritis, dry eye, vitamin A deficiency and posterior segment disease were also present in decreasing order. Systemic association were few with generalised body atopy in 0.3%. Conclusion: The prevalence of AC was 32% and is similar to what pertains in some of the African hospital studies

To evaluate the feasibility of and the potential for using optical coherence tomography in conjunction with conventional bronchoscopy in the evaluation of the airways. Methods: This was a pilot study based on an ex vivo experimental model involving three animals: one adult New Zealand rabbit and two Landrace pigs. An optical coherence tomography imaging catheter was inserted through the working channel of a flexible bronchoscope in order to reach the distal trachea of the animals. Images of the walls of the trachea were systematically taken along its entire length, from the distal to the proximal portion. Results: The imaging catheter was easily adapted to the working channel of the bronchoscope. High-resolution images of cross sections of the trachea were taken in real time, precisely delineating microstructures, such as the epithelium, submucosa, and cartilage, as well as the adventitia of the anterior and lateral tracheal walls. The corresponding layers of the epithelium, mucosa, and cartilage were clearly differentiated. The mucosa, submucosa, and trachealis muscle were clearly identified in the posterior wall. Conclusions: It is feasible to use an optical coherence tomography imaging catheter in combination with a flexible bronchoscope. Optical coherence tomography produces high resolution images that reveal the microanatomy of the trachea, including structures that are typically seen only on images produced by conventional histology. (author)

Full Text Available A 59-year-old female patient presented at the outpatients’ Department of Ophthalmology with epiphora, eyelid swelling, and a foreign body feeling in the right eye. The symptoms were present for 4 months, and the patient was treated as suffering from relapsing conjunctivitis. The slit lamp examination revealed keratitis due to exposure, related with the deficient closure of the eyelids. There was a 2 mm difference in the readings with the Hertel exophthalmometry examination between the eyes. Her medical history was clear, and she was referred for computed tomography of the orbits and brain and biochemical examinations (FT3, FT4, and TSH to investigate the presence of an intraorbital mass. FT3 was significantly increased and TSH was accordingly low, indicating the diagnosis of Graves’ disease, which presented without other signs and symptoms apart from ophthalmopathy. Computed tomography scan excluded the diagnosis of an intraorbital mass. Therefore, it is important not to underestimate the ocular manifestations of systemic diseases.

Acute bacterial conjunctivitis, the most common cause of conjunctivitis, is responsible for approximately 1% of all primary-care consultations. Of the topical ophthalmic antibiotics used to treat acute bacterial conjunctivitis, fluoroquinolones are especially useful because they possess a broad antibacterial spectrum, are bactericidal in action, are generally well tolerated, and have been less prone to development of bacterial resistance. Besifloxacin, the latest advanced fluoroquinolone approved for treating bacterial conjunctivitis, is the first fluoroquinolone developed specifically for topical ophthalmic use. It has a C-8 chlorine substituent and is known as a chloro-fluoroquinolone. Besifloxacin possesses relatively balanced dual-targeting activity against bacterial topoisomerase IV and DNA gyrase (topoisomerse II), two essential enzymes involved in bacterial DNA replication, leading to increased potency and decreased likelihood of bacterial resistance developing to besifloxacin. Microbiological data suggest a relatively high potency and rapid bactericidal activity for besifloxacin against common ocular pathogens, including bacteria resistant to other fluoroquinolones, especially resistant staphylococcal species. Randomized, double-masked, controlled clinical studies demonstrated the clinical efficacy of besifloxacin ophthalmic suspension 0.6% administered three-times daily for 5 days to be superior to the vehicle alone and similar to moxifloxacin ophthalmic solution 0.5% for bacterial conjunctivitis. In addition, besifloxacin ophthalmic suspension 0.6% administered two-times daily for 3 days was clinically more effective than the vehicle alone for bacterial conjunctivitis. Besifloxacin has also been shown in preclinical animal studies to be potentially effective for the "off-label" treatment of infections following ocular surgery, prophylaxis of endophthalmitis, and the treatment of bacterial keratitis. Taken together, clinical and preclinical animal studies

Full Text Available The article discusses the results of a longitudinal study of how the use of conjunctions, as an aspect of spoken discourse competence of 13 selected advanced students of English, developed throughout their 3-year English as a foreign language (EFL tertiary education. The analysis was carried out in relation to a number of variables, including 2 reference levels, one representing English native discourse and the other observed in teacher talk in actual EFL classes, language type exposure, as registered by the participants of the study on a weekly basis, and teaching procedures. The study investigated possible factors determining the development of 3 aspects of conjunction use: (a formal conjunctions, (b specific conjunctions, that is, those conjunctions that are both characteristic of natural English discourse and are underrepresented in L2 discourse, and (c conjunction diversity. The results point to a restricting effect of teacher talk on the development of specific conjunction use and conjunction diversity. These 2 aspects of conjunction use enjoyed only a slight rise, approaching the teacher reference level. On the other hand, formal conjunctions use did increase radically throughout the study, exceeding the native reference level. In this case teacher talk played a reinforcing role at most. As indicated in a correlational analysis, although there was a clear tendency of the participants’ development of conjunction use towards the native reference level, exposure to authentic English may not have been facilitative of the development of this discourse aspect. An interesting observation was made with reference to the effect of formal instruction on the development of conjunction use: Although the subjects did receive intensive training in conjunction use in the 1st semester of their EFL course, it was not until the 2nd year that their levels of formal conjunction use in spoken output increased. This suggests that formal instruction may have

Conjunction Assessment screening volumes used in the protection of NASA satellites are constructed as geometric volumes about these satellites, of a size expected to capture a certain percentage of the serious conjunction events by a certain time before closest approach. However, the analyses that established these sizes were grounded on covariance-based projections rather than empirical screening results, did not tailor the volume sizes to ensure operational actionability of those results, and did not consider the adjunct ability to produce data that could provide prevenient assistance for maneuver planning. The present study effort seeks to reconsider these questions based on a six-month dataset of empirical screening results using an extremely large screening volume. The results, pursued here for a highly-populated orbit regime near 700 km altitude, identify theoretical limits of screening volume performance, explore volume configuration to facilitate both maneuver remediation planning as well as basic asset protection, and recommend sizing principles that maximize volume performance while minimizing the capture of "chaff" conjunctions that are unlikely ever to become serious events.

Full Text Available A Persistent Left Superior Venacava (PLSVC is the most common variation of the thoracic venous system and rare congenital vascular anomaly and is prevalent in 0.3% of the population. It may be associated with other cardiovascular abnormalities including atrial septal defect, bicuspid aortic valve, coarctation of aorta, coronary sinus ostial atresia, and cor triatriatum. Incidental rotation of a dilated coronary sinus on echocardiography should raise the suspicion of PLSVC. The diagnosis should be confirmed by saline contrast echocardiography. Condition is usually asymptomatic. Here we present a rare case of persistent left superior vena cava presented in OPD with dyspnoea & palpitations.

The COMIS workshop (Conjunction of Multizone Infiltration Specialists) was a joint research effort to develop a multizone infiltration mode. This workshop (October 1988--September 1989) was hosted by the Energy Performance of Buildings Group at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory's Applied Science Division. The task of the workshop was to develop a detailed multizone infiltration program taking crack flow, HVAC-systems, single-sided ventilation and transport mechanism through large openings into account. This work was accomplished not by investigating into numerical description of physical phenomena but by reviewing the literature for the best suitable algorithm. The numerical description of physical phenomena is clearly a task of IEA-Annex XX Air Flow Patterns in Buildings,'' which will be finished in September 1991. Multigas tracer measurements and wind tunnel data will be used to check the model. The agenda integrated all participants' contributions into a single model containing a large library of modules. The user-friendly program is aimed at researchers and building professionals. From its announcement in December 1986, COMIS was well received by the research community. Due to the internationality of the group, several national and international research programmes were co-ordinated with the COMIS workshop. Colleagues for France, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, People's Republic of China, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States of America were working together on the development of the model. Even though this kind of co-operation is well known in other fields of research, e.g., high energy physics; for the field of building physics it is a new approach. This document contains an overview about infiltration modelling as well as the physics and the mathematics behind the COMIS model. 91 refs., 38 figs., 9 tabs.

Full Text Available Timothy L Comstock1, Paul M Karpecki2, Timothy W Morris3, Jin-Zhong Zhang41Global Medical Affairs, Pharmaceuticals, Bausch and Lomb, Inc., Rochester, NY, USA; 2Koffler Vision Group, Lexington, KY, USA; 3Research and Development Microbiology and Sterilization Sciences, Bausch and Lomb, Inc., Rochester, NY, USA; 4Global Preclinical Development, Bausch and Lomb, Inc., Rochester, NY, USAAbstract: Bacterial conjunctivitis, commonly known as pink eye, is demographically unbiased in its prevalence and can be caused by a variety of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. Timely empiric treatment with a broad-spectrum anti-infective, such as a topical fluoroquinolone, is critical in preventing potentially irreversible ocular damage. However, the rise in ocular methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates and the patterns of fluoroquinolone resistance for patients with other ocular bacterial infections mandate the need for new agents targeted for ocular use. Besifloxacin, a novel broad-spectrum fluoroquinolone, is approved for the treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis. It has a uniquely balanced dual-targeting activity that inhibits both DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV and is associated with a lower incidence of resistance development. Besifloxacin is not marketed in other formulations, ensuring that its exposure is limited to bacterial populations in and around the eye. This specifically precludes any bacterial exposure to besifloxacin resulting from systemic use, which further reduces the likelihood of emergence of bacterial resistance. In vitro, besifloxacin has demonstrated equivalent or superior activity compared with other commonly used topical antibiotics. In clinical trials, besifloxacin has consistently demonstrated efficacy and safety in the treatment of patients with bacterial conjunctivitis. Besifloxacin is considered safe and is well tolerated with no observed contraindications.Keywords: conjunctivitis, fluoroquinolones, besifloxacin

many a dispute could have been deflated into a single paragraph if the disputants had just dared to define their terms.7 Aristotle ...meaningful. This section will expand on some key ideology concepts. The phrase "air superiority fighter" may bring to mind visions of fighter... biographies are useful in garnering airpower advocate theories as well as identifying key characteristics. Air campaign results, starting with World

Reports on a study designed to provide baseline data in the area of conjunction and conditional events. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses revealed improvement with grade in expressing probability numerically and distinguishing conditional events, but no change in incidence of conjunction errors. (Author/MM)

Full Text Available Chlamydia trachomatis is considered a major aetiological agent of conjunctivitis in newborns. The objective of the present study was to determine the aetiology of neonatal conjunctivitis and clinico-epidemiological correlates of chlamydial ophthalmia neonatorum. Fifty-eight newborns with signs and symptoms of conjunctivitis were studied. Conjunctival specimens were subjected to Gram staining, routine bacteriological culture, culture for Neisseria gonorrhoeae and direct fluorescent antibody (DFA staining for diagnosis of C. trachomatis infection. C. trachomatis was detected in 18 (31% neonates. Findings suggest that since C. trachomatis is the most common cause of neonatal conjunctivitis, routine screening and treatment of genital C. trachomatis infection in pregnant women and early diagnosis and treatment of neonatal Chlamydial conjunctivitis may be considered for its prevention and control.

Full Text Available In the article the ability of preposition to form conjunction or its equivalent has been considered. The mechanism of denominalization has been shown on the Russian material with the involvement of the author’s observations on prepositions in the Belarusian language - the morphological form transformation in to the subordinate part of complex sentence. The author’s conception is: 1 the syntaxeme is the actant position in the sentence; 2 the syntaxeme consists of the formant (preposition + flexion and nominative component (substantive; 3 at the level of the complex sentence the same actant position may take the predicative unit (subordinate part of the complex sentence; 4 the formant of the predicative syntaxeme in transforms is the conjunctional combination “preposition + demonstrative pronoun that + subordinate part conjunction“. The preposition at case syntaxeme transformation in to predicative does not change its function, but it is included in to the conjunctional formant as one of the elements of more complex formant - conjunctional combination. Each element of the conjunctional combination fulfills its function: the preposition still forms the syntaxeme, but with more complex nominative component as predicative unit, the pronoun that is “flection“ of this nominative component (subordinate part, and the conjunction acts as the explicator, providing grammatical connection of the nominative component of syntaxeme with the “flexion“ and the preposition. It is noted that the mechanism and the results of denominalization depend on the syntaxemes repertoire and character and on the preposition meaning: the same preposition, with different meaning has different conjunctional potential. In to the mechanism of denominalization are involved categorematic names (classifiers, which initially are used as structural vocabulary for forming secondary prepositions, and together with them, for forming conjunctional combinations. The methods

In this article, a simple approach is suggested to calculate the approximate dates of opposition and conjunction of Earth and Mars since their opposition on August 28, 2003 (at perihelion of Mars). The goal of this article has been achieved via using accurate analytical solution to Kepler's equation in terms of Bessel function. The periodicity property of this solution and its particular values at specified times are discussed through some lemmas. The mathematical conditions of opposition and conjunction of the two planets are formulated. Moreover, the intervals of opposition and conjunction have been determined using the graphs of some defined functions. The calculations reveal that there are nine possible oppositions and conjunctions for Earth and Mars during 20 years started on August 28, 2003. The dates of such oppositions and conjunctions were approximately determined and listed in Tables. It is found that our calculations differ few days from the published real dates of Earth-Mars oppositions due to the neglected effects of the gravitational attraction of other planets in the Solar system on the motion of two planets. The period of 20 years can be extended for any number of years by following the suggested analysis. Furthermore, the current approach may be extended to study the opposition and conjunction of the Earth and any outer planet.

We study statistics of records in a sequence of random variables. These identical and independently distributed variables are drawn from the parent distribution ρ. The running record equals the maximum of all elements in the sequence up to a given point. We define a superior sequence as one where all running records are above the average record expected for the parent distribution ρ. We find that the fraction of superior sequences SN decays algebraically with sequence length N, SN˜N-β in the limit N→∞. Interestingly, the decay exponent β is nontrivial, being the root of an integral equation. For example, when ρ is a uniform distribution with compact support, we find β=0.450265. In general, the tail of the parent distribution governs the exponent β. We also consider the dual problem of inferior sequences, where all records are below average, and find that the fraction of inferior sequences IN decays algebraically, albeit with a different decay exponent, IN˜N-α. We use the above statistical measures to analyze earthquake data.

The constructive nature of memory is generally adaptive, allowing us to efficiently store, process and learn from life events, and simulate future scenarios to prepare ourselves for what may come. However, the cost of a flexibly constructive memory system is the occasional conjunction error, whereby the components of an event are authentic, but the combination of those components is false. Using a novel recombination paradigm, it was demonstrated that details from one autobiographical memory (AM) may be incorrectly incorporated into another, forming AM conjunction errors that elude typical reality monitoring checks. The factors that contribute to the creation of these conjunction errors were examined across two experiments. Conjunction errors were more likely to occur when the corresponding details were partially rather than fully recombined, likely due to increased plausibility and ease of simulation of partially recombined scenarios. Brief periods of imagination increased conjunction error rates, in line with the imagination inflation effect. Subjective ratings suggest that this inflation is due to similarity of phenomenological experience between conjunction and authentic memories, consistent with a source monitoring perspective. Moreover, objective scoring of memory content indicates that increased perceptual detail may be particularly important for the formation of AM conjunction errors.

Human agents happen to judge that a conjunction of two terms is more probable than one of the terms, in contradiction with the rules of classical probabilities---this is the conjunction fallacy. One of the most discussed accounts of this fallacy is currently the quantum-like explanation, which relies on models exploiting the mathematics of quantum mechanics. The aim of this paper is to investigate the empirical adequacy of major such quantum-like models. We first argue that they can be tested in three different ways, in a question order effect configuration which is different from the traditional conjunction fallacy experiment. We then carry out our proposed experiment, with varied methodologies from experimental economics. The experimental results we get are at odds with the predictions of the quantum-like models. This strongly suggests that the quantum-like account of the conjunction fallacy fails. Future possible research paths are discussed.

Using the total electron content data obtained by the Ulysses Solar Corona Experiment during the superiorsolarconjunction in summer 1991, we selected two data sets, one associated with a coronal hole and the other one with coronal streamer crossings. By doing this data splitting, we find two entirely different density profiles varying as r(exp -2.7) and r(exp -2.3) for the coronal hole and coronal streamers, respectively. Assuming mass flux conservation from the inner corona to one AU, an estimate for the velocity profiles or acceleration in these two different regions can be determined. The more negative exponent of the coronal hole density profile indicates a more extended heating and acceleration region or more flaring, or both. Various possible explanations will be discussed.

Purpose: to evaluate the effectiveness of artificial tears use, particularly Ophtolique eye drops in cases of allergic conjunctivitis.Methods: 2 groups (30 patients each) with allergic conjunctivitis and complains for tearing were observed. Shirmer and Norn tests, lissamine and fluorescein staining were performed weekly during 21 day period. All patients were receiving standard anti-allergic treatment, but in 2-nd group the artificial tears were administered.Results: Mean time for allergic sy...

Coagulase-negative staphylococcus (C-NS) are regarded asnormal flora of the lids and conjunctiva.The ability of these organisms tocause conjunctivitis and blepharitis can be overlooked or disregarded.Toelucidate the role of individual C-NS species in these eye diseases wecompared Staphylococcus sp.isolated from the conjunctiva and lids of 50healthy volunteers with 248 strains of Staphylococcus isolated frompatients with staphylococcal conjunctivitis or blepharitis.S.epidermidiswas the most frequent spec...

Objective: In bacterial conjunctivitis, clinical presentations are not diagnostic of the causative agent, therefore, microbiological analysis is mandatory for specific treatment option. This study was undertaken to determine the microbiology profile of bacterial conjunctivitis in our environment. Methodology: This is a laboratory-based study carried out in the Medical Microbiology Laboratory of University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. Conjunctival swabs collected from 365 patients with clinically diagnosed conjunctivitis, were analysed by standard bacteriological methods. Results: Bacterial pathogens were detected in 342 (93.7%) conjunctival samples while 23(6.3%) were sterile. Of the pathogens, 256 (74.9%) were Staphylococcus aureus, 35(10.2%) Coagulase- negative staphylococci, 22 (6.4%) Pseudomonas aeruginosa , 11(3.2%) Escherichia coli, 7(2.1%) Klebsiella species, 5(1.5%) Streptococcus pneumoniae , 4(1.2%) Haemophilus influenzae, 1(0.3%) Proteus mirabilis, and 1(0.3%)Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The highest rate of conjunctivitis 96(26.3%) was found among infants and children (0-10years).Resistance rates to most of the tested antibiotics were high. However, 67% of them were susceptible to ceftriaxone while only 39.2% were susceptible to chloramphenicol. Conclusion: This study has recorded high antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens of conjunctivitis in this environment; therefore, determining the susceptibility pattern of these pathogens to available antibiotics is crucial to effective management of bacterial conjunctivitis. PMID:25161470

In the memory conjunction paradigm, the number of times that constituents of conjunction lures were studied and the method of presentation were varied. In two experiments, participants were presented with eight parent items that could be recombined at test to form a conjunction lure. The constituents that were shared between the parent items and the conjunction lures were either presented in the same words (e.g., blackmail and jailbird presented four times each for the conjunction lure blackbird) or in different words (e.g., the targets footstool, footlocker, foothill, footbridge, baseball, softball, basketball, and golfball for the conjunction lure football). In both experiments, rates of false recognition were higher in the Different condition as opposed to the Same condition. These results provide evidence that participants in the Same condition were able to utilise a recall-to-reject strategy by remembering the repeatedly presented parent word. In the Different condition, participants were not able to utilise that strategy and instead relied on the familiarity of the repeatedly presented constituents which led to higher rates of false recognition.

Full Text Available The infrared solar spectrum contains a wealth of physical data about our Sun, and is explored using modern detectors and technology with new ground-based solar telescopes. The scientific motivation behind exploring these wavelengths is presented, along with a brief look at the rich history of observations here. Several avenues of solar physics research exploiting and benefiting from observations at infrared wavelengths from roughly 1000 nm to 12 400 nm are discussed, and the instrument and detector technology driving this research is briefly summarized. Finally, goals for future work at infrared wavelengths are presented in conjunction with ground and space-based observations.

We have, for the first time, designed and fabricated hydrogenated amorphous silicon solar cells to be used in conjunction with Luminescent Solar Concentrators (LSCs). LSCs are planar plastic sheets doped with organic dyes that absorb solar illumination and down shift the energy to narrowband

Although some evidence is consistent with the notion that distinct cortical systems support memory and perception, mounting evidence supports a representational-hierarchical view of cognition, which posits that distinctions lie in simple feature representations versus more complex conjunctive representations of many stimulus features simultaneously. Thus, typical memory tasks engage different regions from typical perception tasks because they inherently test information on opposing ends of this continuum. Memory deficits are reliably reported with age, but the tasks used to make these conclusions predominantly rely on conjunctive representations. To test the extent to which age-related deficits may be accounted for by perceptual processing, this study investigated discriminations involving conjunctive representations in older adults. Results show that adults aged 50 to 77 are impaired, relative to their younger counterparts, on discriminations requiring feature conjunctions, but not simple feature representations. These findings support recent data showing an agerelated decline in the ability to form conjunctive representations. Furthermore, these data suggest that some ‘mnemonic’ deficits associated with age may in fact be the result of deficits in perception rather than memory. PMID:25308561

While many satellite operators are aware of the possibility of a collision between their satellite and another object in earth orbit, most seem unaware of the frequency of near misses occurring each day. Until recently, no service existed to advise satellite operators of an impending conjunction of a satellite payload with another satellite, putting the responsibility for determining these occurrences squarely on the satellite operator's shoulders. This problem has been further confounded by the lack of a timely, comprehensive data set of satellite orbital element sets and computationally efficient tools to provide predictions using industry-standard software. As a result, hundreds of conjunctions within 1 km occur each week, with little or no intervention, putting billions of dollars of space hardware at risk, along with their associated missions. As a service to the satellite operator community, the Center for Space Standards & Innovation (CSSI) offers SOCRATES-Satellite Orbital Conjunction Reports Assessing Threatening Encounters in Space. Twice each day, CSSI runs a list of all satellite payloads on orbit against a list of all objects on orbit using the catalog of all unclassified NORAD two-line element sets to look for conjunctions over the next seven days. The runs are made using STK/CAT-Satellite Tool Kit's Conjunction Analysis Tools-together with the NORAD SGP4 propagator in STK. This paper will discuss how SOCRATES works and how it can help satellite operators avoid undesired close approaches through advanced mission planning.

Full Text Available H1‑receptor antagonists are drugs of choice to treat allergy. They work very fast as their therapeutic effect develops within 10‑15 min, have good tolerability and almost no adverse side-effects, and require no frequent instillations. Levocabastine quickly inhibits allergic reaction caused by specific allergen or histamine. Levocabastine while being a highly-selective H1‑receptor antagonist is the most perspective topical mono-drug used to treat acute allergic conjunctivitis. Levocabastine applied on a spot produces instant effect which persists for a long time so that instillations twice a day (BID are enough. Levocabastine is more effective than other 15 antihistamines. In contrast to previous antihistamines, levocabastine blocks vasodilatation and reduces vascular permeability increase. Levocabastine eye drops have good tolerability comparable with cromoglicic acid eye drops and placebo. Levocabas tine is successfully used in allergic conjunctivitis (pollinosis, perennial, vernal, rhinoconjunctivitis treatment in children. Its efficacy is the same or even higher than that of cromoglycate and azelastine. 20 clinical studies (more than 1200 patients revealed that levocabastine eye drops are effective, work quickly and have good tolerability. This drug is efficient in allergic conjunctivitis treatment and acute infectious conjunctivitis complex therapy.

The authors used a state-trace methodology to investigate the informational dimensions used to recognize old and conjunction faces (made by combining parts of separately studied faces). Participants in 3 experiments saw faces presented for 1 s each. They then received a recognition test; faces were presented for varying brief durations and…

To some extent,the score of writing part influences the total score of CET-4.With cohesion and coherence theory and the scoring criteria in CET-4 writing as its foundation,questionnaire as its main research method,this paper discusses the importance of conjunctions in CET-4 writing,and offers implications for the teaching of English writing in class.

Faraday rotation (FR) measurements using linearly polarized radio signals from the two Helios spacecraft were carried out during the period from 1975 to 1984. This paper presents the results of a spectral analysis of the Helios S-band FR fluctuations observed at heliocentric distances from 2.6 to 15 solar radii during the superiorconjunctions 1975-1983. The mean intensity of the FR fluctuations does not exceed the noise level for solar offsets greater than ca. 15 solar radii. The rms FR fluctuation amplitude increases rapidly as the radio ray path approaches the Sun, varying according to a power law (exponent: 2.85 +/- 0.15) at solar distances 4-12 solar radii. At distances inside 4 solar radii the increase is even steeper (exponent: 5.6 +/- 0.2). The equivalent two-dimensional FR fluctuation spectrum is well modeled by a single power-law over the frequency range from 5 to 50 mHz. For heliocentric distances larger than 4 solar radii the spectral index varies between 1.1 and 1.6 with a mean value of 1.4 +/- 0.2, corresponding to a 3-D spectral index p = 2.4. FR fluctuations thus display a somwhat lower spectral index compared with phase and amplitude fluctuations. Surprisingly high values of the spectral index were found for measurements inside 4 solar radii (p = 2.9 +/- 0.2). This may arise from the increasingly dominant effect of the magnetic field on radio wave propagation at small solar offsets. Finally, a quasiperiodic component, believed to be associated with Alfven waves, was discovered in some (but not all!) fluctuation spectra observed simultaneously at two ground stations. Characteristic periods and bulk velocities of this component were 240 +/- 30 sec and 300 +/- 60 km/s, respectively.

The NASA Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis (CARA) team has recently implemented updated software to calculate the probability of collision (P (sub c)) for Earth-orbiting satellites. The algorithm can employ complex dynamical models for orbital motion, and account for the effects of non-linear trajectories as well as both position and velocity uncertainties. This “3D P (sub c)” method entails computing a 3-dimensional numerical integral for each estimated probability. Our analysis indicates that the 3D method provides several new insights over the traditional “2D P (sub c)” method, even when approximating the orbital motion using the relatively simple Keplerian two-body dynamical model. First, the formulation provides the means to estimate variations in the time derivative of the collision probability, or the probability rate, R (sub c). For close-proximity satellites, such as those orbiting in formations or clusters, R (sub c) variations can show multiple peaks that repeat or blend with one another, providing insight into the ongoing temporal distribution of risk. For single, isolated conjunctions, R (sub c) analysis provides the means to identify and bound the times of peak collision risk. Additionally, analysis of multiple actual archived conjunctions demonstrates that the commonly used “2D P (sub c)” approximation can occasionally provide inaccurate estimates. These include cases in which the 2D method yields negligibly small probabilities (e.g., P (sub c)) is greater than 10 (sup -10)), but the 3D estimates are sufficiently large to prompt increased monitoring or collision mitigation (e.g., P (sub c) is greater than or equal to 10 (sup -5)). Finally, the archive analysis indicates that a relatively efficient calculation can be used to identify which conjunctions will have negligibly small probabilities. This small-P (sub c) screening test can significantly speed the overall risk analysis computation for large numbers of conjunctions.

Full Text Available Climate change can result in significant impacts on regional and global surface water and groundwater resources. Using groundwater as a complimentary source of water has provided an effective means to satisfy the ever-increasing water demands and deal with surface water shortages problems due to robust capability of groundwater in responding to climate change. Conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater is crucial for integrated water resources management. It is helpful to reduce vulnerabilities of water supply systems and mitigate the water supply stress in responding to climate change. Some critical challenges and perspectives are discussed to help decision/policy makers develop more effective management and adaptation strategies for conjunctive water resources use in facing climate change under complex uncertainties.

Full Text Available Telugu is an ancient historic language. It is spoken by about 84.6 million people of Andhra Pradesh. The script has circular orthography with few horizontal and slant strokes. Huge literature exists for this language in printed form which needs to be preserved by scanning and converting it into editable form. Segmentation of touching characters is a major issue in any OCR system. Segmenting the wordsinto individual glyphs by Connected Component Analysis yields poor results due to touching characters. Touching conjunct consonants is the major component which needs to be properly addressed for improving the accuracy of an OCR system. In this paper an overlapping bounding box approach is presented for segmenting the conjunct consonants along with an algorithm for identifying the correcttouching location. An accuracy rate of 91.27% is achieved.

This paper shows how satellite owner/operators may use sequential estimates of collision probability, along with a prior assessment of the base risk of collision, in a compound hypothesis ratio test to inform decisions concerning collision risk mitigation maneuvers. The compound hypothesis test reduces to a simple probability ratio test, which appears to be a novel result. The test satisfies tolerances related to targeted false alarm and missed detection rates. This result is independent of the method one uses to compute the probability density that one integrates to compute collision probability. A well-established test case from the literature shows that this test yields acceptable results within the constraints of a typical operational conjunction assessment decision timeline. Another example illustrates the use of the test in a practical conjunction assessment scenario based on operations of the International Space Station.

This paper reports a second outbreak of acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis due to coxsackievirus A24 in peninsular Malaysia. Between June 2002 and early October 2003, 10,327 patients, comprising 3,261 children and 7,066 adults, were treated for acute conjunctivitis in 11 government health clinics in the Melaka Tengah district of the state of Melaka. The figure grossly underestimates the size of the outbreak; as no patients treated in private clinics in the same district were included. Institution and household surveillance showed that the commonest presenting clinical feature of the illness was eye-discharge (91.2%), followed by foreign body sensation (81.8%), pain (78.3%) and subconjunctival haemorrhage (74.4%). The mean duration of illness was 6.5 and five days for patients with and without subconjunctival haemorrhage respectively.

The efficacy of lecrolin (2% sodium cromoglycate) eye drops was assessed in 22 patients with allergic conjunctivitis. Positive effect was attained in all the patients on day 4.0 +/- 1.2. Signs of the disease exacerbation completely disappeared in 68% of patients in 8.3 +/- 2.4 days. No side effects of any type were observed for a month of using lecrolin eye drops.

The extension of MODFLOW onto the landscape with the Farm Process (MF-FMP) facilitates fully coupled simulation of the use and movement of water from precipitation, streamflow and runoff, groundwater flow, and consumption by natural and agricultural vegetation throughout the hydrologic system at all times. This allows for more complete analysis of conjunctive use water-resource systems than previously possible with MODFLOW by combining relevant aspects of the landscape with the groundwater and surface water components. This analysis is accomplished using distributed cell-by-cell supply-constrained and demand-driven components across the landscape within "water-balance subregions" comprised of one or more model cells that can represent a single farm, a group of farms, or other hydrologic or geopolitical entities. Simulation of micro-agriculture in the Pajaro Valley and macro-agriculture in the Central Valley are used to demonstrate the utility of MF-FMP. For Pajaro Valley, the simulation of an aquifer storage and recovery system and related coastal water distribution system to supplant coastal pumpage was analyzed subject to climate variations and additional supplemental sources such as local runoff. For the Central Valley, analysis of conjunctive use from different hydrologic settings of northern and southern subregions shows how and when precipitation, surface water, and groundwater are important to conjunctive use. The examples show that through MF-FMP's ability to simulate natural and anthropogenic components of the hydrologic cycle, the distribution and dynamics of supply and demand can be analyzed, understood, and managed. This analysis of conjunctive use would be difficult without embedding them in the simulation and are difficult to estimate a priori.

Full Text Available The article deals with the description of conjuction of two different meanings or shades of meanings of polysemic words in one word usage in the poetic text. Some types of contexts with such conjunction are discussed: sentences with co-ordinated parts, statements with similes, etc. Meaning conjunction in different parts of speech is studied; the combination in one word usage of free and phraseologically bound meanings; of usual and terminological meanings, of the dictionary word meaning and its semantic transformation in the poetic language. Special attention is paid to investigation of meaning conjunction of words of the same semantic class, based on the study of color adjectives. Adjectives red, purple, pink, blue and derivative verbs are discussed. In poetic metaphors and similes two menings of these words overlap: the direct meaning referring to the tenor and the figurative (personifying meaning referring to the vehicle. The figurative meaning characterizes the color of human skin caused by some physical / emotional processes (not race. The conclusion is made that in such words in the literray text coincidence of the direct level of the text and its figurative level is established. It is proposed to include search for other classes of such words and their description in the task of future research.

Orbital debris poses a significant threat to spacecraft health and safety. Recent events such as China's anti-satellite test and the Breeze-M rocket explosion have led to an even greater awareness and concern in the satellite community. Therefore, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has established requirements that routine conjunction assessment screening shall be performed for all maneuverable spacecraft having perigees less than 2000 km or within 200 km of geosynchronous altitude. NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has developed an operational collision risk assessment process to protect NASA s high-value unmanned (robotic) assets that has been in use since January 2005. This paper provides an overview of the NASA robotic conjunction assessment process, including descriptions of the new tools developed to analyze close approach data and of the risk mitigation strategies employed. In addition, statistical data describing the number of conjunctions experienced are presented. A debris avoidance maneuver performed by Aura in June of 2008 is described in detail to illustrate the process.

(1) There is no clearly established reference eye-drop preparation for the treatment of allergic conjunctivitis. Steroid eye drops must be avoided. Virtually the only criterion on which to base the choice among the other antiallergic eye drops is the type and presence of preservatives, as these must be avoided by the small number of patients who are allergic to them. (2) In our opinion the clinical file on the 0.05% emedastine eye drops now available in France fails to answer many practical questions, as it almost solely comprises single-dose clinical pharmacology studies. (3) A trial involving 221 patients with allergic conjunctivitis, during a period of pollination, showed no tangible difference in efficacy between 0.05% emedastine and 0.05% levocabastine eye drops after 6 weeks of treatment. (4) The main adverse effects observed in clinical trials were local, consisting of eye redness, dryness and discomfort. When taken orally, emedastine is known to prolong the QT interval, and it is difficult to determine the precise cardiac risk during ocular administration. (5) 0.05% emedastine eye drops change nothing in the management of allergic conjunctivitis.

Full Text Available Abstract – Conjunctions as fundamental elements in the construction of discourse cohesion represent a relatively neglected research area, due to their complexity and the bewildering number of “conjunctive relations” (Halliday and Hasan 1976: 226 that they may express in context, as also highlighted in Christiansen (2011. In addition to this, there does not seem to be a shared view as far as the classification and denomination of the different kinds of conjunctions are concerned (cf. Halliday and Hasan 1976; Vande Kopple 1985; Martin and Rose 2003; Hyland 2005b. The selection of a specific type of conjunction acquires more importance because they are typically open to so many different interpretations, especially when the participants in the speech event come from diverse lingua-cultural backgrounds (cf. Guido 2007; Guido 2008; Cogo et al. 2011.Following the taxonomy provided by Halliday and Hasan (1976 for conjunctions, our study attempts to shed light on the usage of conjunctions by ELF speakers in specific contexts. We shall consider ten transcripts taken from the VOICE Corpus (Seidlhofer et. al 2013, namely five interviews and five conversations in multicultural academic contexts (approximately 4,000 words each, and analyze the number of instances for each type of conjunction (additive, adversative, clausal, temporal as well as continuatives in depth, by adopting a quantitative as well as a qualitative method and by using TextSTAT 2.9 (Huning 2012. We shall then move on to the analysis of conjunctions with respect to their internal properties/collocates and eventually see the occurrence of conjunctions by comparing them with the two different speech events which are chosen as the subject of our study, i.e. interviews and conversations. We shall see the extent to which certain conjunctions are more restricted than others in terms of usage (cf. Leung 2005 in both types of speech events, despite the great number of options available to the

We analyze in this paper the data collected in a set of experiments investigating how people combine natural concepts. We study the mutual influence of conceptual conjunction and negation by measuring the membership weights of a list of exemplars with respect to two concepts, e.g., Fruits and Vegetables, and their conjunction Fruits And Vegetables, but also their conjunction when one or both concepts are negated, namely, Fruits And Not Vegetables, Not Fruits And Vegetables, and Not Fruits And Not Vegetables. Our findings sharpen and advance existing analysis on conceptual combinations, revealing systematic deviations from classical (fuzzy set) logic and probability theory. And, more important, our results give further considerable evidence to the validity of our quantum-theoretic framework for the combination of two concepts. Indeed, the representation of conceptual negation naturally arises from the general assumptions of our two-sector Fock space model, and this representation faithfully agrees with the collected data. In addition, we find a new significant and a priori unexpected deviation from classicality, which can exactly be explained by assuming that human reasoning is the superposition of an "emergent reasoning" and a "logical reasoning," and that these two processes are represented in a Fock space algebraic structure.

Full Text Available We analyze in this paper the data collected in a set of experiments investigating how people combine natural concepts. We study the mutual influence of conceptual conjunction and negation by measuring the membership weights of a list of exemplars with respect to two concepts, e.g., {it Fruits} and {it Vegetables}, and their conjunction {it Fruits And Vegetables}, but also their conjunction when one or both concepts are negated, namely, {it Fruits And Not Vegetables}, {it Not Fruits And Vegetables} and {it Not Fruits And Not Vegetables}. Our findings sharpen and advance existing analysis on conceptual combinations, revealing systematic deviations from classical (fuzzy set logic and probability theory. And, more important, our results give further considerable evidence to the validity of our quantum-theoretic framework for the combination of two concepts. Indeed, the representation of conceptual negation naturally arises from the general assumptions of our two-sector Fock space model, and this representation faithfully agrees with the collected data. In addition, we find a new significant and a priori unexpected deviation from classicality, which can exactly be explained by assuming that human reasoning is the superposition of an `emergent reasoning' and a `logical reasoning', and that these two processes are represented in a Fock space algebraic structure.

This article summarises the status of the solar neutrino oscillation phenomenology at the end of 2002 in the light of the SNO and KamLAND results. We first present the allowed areas obtained from global solar analysis and demonstrate the preference of the solar data towards the large-mixing-angle (LMA) MSW solution. A clear confirmation in favour of the LMA solution comes from the KamLAND reactor neutrino data. the KamLAND spectral data in conjunction with the global solar data further narrows down the allowed LMA region and splits it into two allowed zones - a low $ m^{2}$ region (low-LMA) and high $ m^{2}$ region (high-LMA). We demonstrate through a projected analysis that with an exposure of 3 kton-year (kTy) KamLAND can remove this ambiguity.

Length, diameter and anastomoses of the nervus vagus and its ganglion inferius were measured 44 halved heads. On the average, 8.65 fiber bundles of the vagus nerve leave the retro-olivary area. In the area of the jugular foramen is the near superior ganglion of the 10th cranial nerve. In this area were found 1.48 (mean value) anastomoses with the 9th cranial nerve. 11.34 mm below the margo terminalis sigmoidea branches off the ramus internus of the accessory nerve which has a length of 9.75 mm. Further anastomoses with the 10th cranial nerve were found. The inferior ganglion of the 10th nerve had a length of 25.47 mm and a diameter of 3.46 mm. Five mm below the ganglion the 10th nerve had a width of 2.9 and a thickness of 1.5 mm. The mean length of the superior sympathetic ganglion was 26.6 mm, its width 7.2 and its thickness 3.4 mm. In nearly all specimens anastomoses of the superior sympathetic ganglion with the ansa cervicalis profunda and the inferior ganglion of the 10th cranial nerve were found. The superior laryngeal nerve branches off about 36 mm below the margo terminalis sigmoidea. The width of this nerve was 1.9 mm, its thickness 0.8 mm on the right and 1.0 mm on the left side. The division in the internal and external rami was found about 21 mm below its origin. Between the n. vagus and thyreohyoid membrane the ramus internus had a length of 64 mm, the length of external ramus between the vagal nerve and the inferior pharyngeal constrictor muscle was 89 mm. Its mean length below the thyreopharyngeal part was 10.7 mm, 8.6 branchlets to the cricothyroid muscle were counted. The superior laryngeal artery had its origin in 80% of cases in the superior thyroideal artery, in 6.8% this vessel was a branch of the external carotid artery. Its average outer diameter was 1.23 mm on the right side and 1.39 mm on the left. The length of this vessel between its origin and the thyreohyoid membrane was 34 mm. In 7% on the right side and in 13% on the left, the superior

We consider the question of the existence of variables with few occurrences in boolean conjunctive normal forms (clause-sets). Let mvd(F) for a clause-set F denote the minimal variable-degree, the minimum of the number of occurrences of variables. Our main result is an upper bound mvd(F) nM(surp(F)) must have a non-trivial autarky (so clauses can be removed satisfiability-equivalently by an assignment satisfying some clauses and not touching the other clauses). It is open whether such an autarky can be found in polynomial time.

With recent events such as the Chinese ASAT test in 2007 and the USA 193 intercept in 2008, many satellite operators are becoming increasingly aware of the potential threat to their satellites as the result of orbital debris or even other satellites. However, to be successful at conjunction monitoring and collision avoidance requires accurate orbital information for as many space objects (payloads, dead satellites, rocket bodies, and debris) as possible. Given the current capabilities of the US Space Surveillance Network (SSN), approximately 18,500 objects are now being tracked and orbital data (in the form of two-line element sets) is available to satellite operators for 11,750 of them (as of 2008 September 1). The capability to automatically process this orbital data to look for close conjunctions and provide that information to satellite operators via the Internet has been continuously available on CelesTrak, in the form of Satellite Orbital Conjunction Reports Assessing Threatening Encounters in Space (SOCRATES), since May 2004. Those reports are used by many operators as one way to keep apprised of these potential threats. However, the two-line element sets (TLEs) are generated using non-cooperative tracking via the SSN's network of radar and optical sensors. As a result, the relatively low accuracy of the data results in a large number of false alarms that satellite operators must routinely deal with. Yet, satellite operators typically perform orbit maintenance for their own satellites, using active ranging and GPS systems. These data are often an order of magnitude more accurate than those available using TLEs. When combined (in the form of ephemerides) with maneuver planning information, the ability to maintain predictive awareness increases significantly. And when satellite operators share this data, the improved space situational awareness, particularly in the crowded geosynchronous belt, can be dramatic and the number of false alarms can be reduced

Full Text Available In an article published in Prolegomena 2006, Christoph Schmidt-Petri has defended his interpretation and attacked mine of Mill’s idea that higher kinds of pleasure are superior in quality to lower kinds, regardless of quantity. Millian qualitative superiorities as I understand them are infinite superiorities. In this paper, I clarify my interpretation and show how Schmidt-Petri has misrepresented it and ignored the obvious textual support for it. As a result, he fails to understand how genuine Millian qualitative superiorities determine the novel structure of Mill’s pluralistic utilitarianism, in which a social code of justice that distributes equal rights and duties takes absolute priority over competing considerations. Schmidt-Petri’s own interpretation is a non-starter, because it does noteven recognize that Mill is talking about different kinds of pleasant feelings, such that the higher kinds are intrinsically more valuable than the lower. I conclude by outlining why my interpretation is free of any metaphysical commitment to the “essence” of pleasure.

Full Text Available Isolated superior mesenteric artery (SMA dissection without involvement of the aorta and the SMA origin is unusual. We present a case of an elderly gentleman who had chronic abdominal pain, worse after meals. CT angiography, performed on a 64-slice CT scanner, revealed SMA dissection with a thrombus. A large artery of Drummond was also seen. The patient was managed conservatively.

mechanisms. In conjunction with these tests, the stowed sails were subjected to launch vibration and ascent vent tests. Other investments studied radiation effects on the solar sail materials, investigated spacecraft charging issues, developed shape measuring techniques and instruments, produced advanced trajectory modeling capabilities, and identified and resolved gossamer structure dynamics issues. Technology validation flight and application to a He1iophysics science mission is on the horizon.

Full Text Available Considerable evidence indicates that eosinophils are important effectors of ocular allergy. Increased worldwide prevalence of allergic eye pathologies has stimulated the identification of novel drug targets, including eosinophils and adhesion molecules.Accumulation of eosinophils in the eye is a key event in the onset and maintenance of allergic inflammation and is mediated by different adhesion molecules. Antihistamines with multiple mechanisms of action can be effective during the early and late phases of allergic conjunctivitis by blocking the interaction between β1 integrins and vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM-1. Small molecule antagonists that target key elements in the process of eosinophil recruitment have been identified and reinforce the validity of α4β1 integrin as a therapeutic target.Glucocorticoids are among the most effective drugs for ocular allergy, but their use is limited by adverse effects. Novel dissociated glucocorticoids can prevent eosinophil accumulation and induce apoptosis of eosinophils, making them promising candidates for ophthalmic drugs.This article reviews recent understanding of the role of adhesion molecules in eosinophil recruitment in the inflamed conjunctiva along with effective treatments for allergic conjunctivitis.

To evaluate the comparative efficacy of Ayurvedic formulation a Rasanjana Madhu (RM) eye drops and Honey Rose (HR) water eye drops in Netra Abhishyanda in mucopurulent conjunctivitis, the current study is planned. Total of 35 patients attending the outpatient department of Shalakya Tantra at R. G. G. Postgraduate Ayurvedic College, Paprola, Distt. Kangra, Himachal Pradesh with characteristic features of Netra Abhishyanda were selected for the present study. Twenty patients were given trial drug, i.e., RM eye drops, while 15 patients were given HR eye drops. Random sampling technique was adopted for the present study. The duration of the treatment was 7 days with 1 week follow-up. Patients receiving the trial group demonstrated reduction of redness, burning sensation, lacrimation, photophobia, foreign body sensation, discharge, and congestion, which were statistically significant with 93% patients cured or markedly improved category. Signs and symptoms stated above were also statistically reduced with HR eye drops, probably because of well-documented hygroscopic and bacteriocidal properties of honey. Based on the study, it can be concluded that, RM eye drops are very effective in the management of Netra Abhishyanda viz. Infective conjunctivitis.

To study the variations in the solar wind velocity during inferior conjunctions of Mercury and Earth, we analyzed 54 events in the period 1995 to 2012 by the superimposed epoch method. We have found a noticeable increase in the velocity both before and after the conjunctions as well as decrease in the velocity within 3-4 days after them, which seems to be associated with Mercury's "shadow". The results obtained might be used to improve a forecast of the solar wind velocity.

In 1982 (approximately 9 March), all nine planets in the solar system will be roughly in line, an event which occurs approximately once every 179 years. In a 1974 book, J.R. Gribbin and Stephen Plagemann suggested that this event would be accompanied by solar activity and geophysical phenomena and would pose the danger of a major earthquake, particularly on the San Andreas Fault. The fact is that several planets, notably Mercury and Jupiter, cause solar tides and affect solar activity and the sunspot cycle. This solar activity could have a triggering effect on sensitive earth structures by leading to the flow of large numbers of charged particles from the sun to the earth, which would affect atmospheric circulation and structure; the movement of large air masses could lead to earthquakes. The prediction of a danger period in 1980 to 1984 is to be taken seriously, as indicated by the following phenomena: a very high number of sunspots in November 1979; a speeding up of the earth's rotation in 1979; a rare upsurge of floods in the Los Angeles vicinity; a shift of more than 24 cm in the position of Pasadena since April 1979; increased radon levels in deep wells in California for the first time; and earthquakes of magnitude 6 and above along the San Andreas Fault. Although there was no major earthquake activity in China in 1801 to 1805, when the planets were lined up previously, there were major quakes 179 years before that, in 1622 to 1626. Although currently China is in a period of low earthquake activity, there is reason for vigilance.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of indices related to solar activity contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide. This...

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of indices related to solar activity contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide. This...

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of indices related to solar activity contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide. This...

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of indices related to solar activity contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide. This...

Superior Sulcus Tumors, frequently termed as Pancoast tumors, are a wide range of tumors invading the apical chest wall. Due to its localization in the apex of the lung, with the potential invasion of the lower part of the brachial plexus, first ribs, vertebrae, subclavian vessels or stellate ganglion, the superior sulcus tumors cause characteristic symptoms, like arm or shoulder pain or Horner's syndrome. The management of superior sulcus tumors has dramatically evolved over the past 50 years. Originally deemed universally fatal, in 1956, Shaw and Paulson introduced a new treatment paradigm with combined radiotherapy and surgery ensuring 5-year survival of approximately 30%. During the 1990s, following the need to improve systemic as well as local control, a trimodality approach including induction concurrent chemoradiotherapy followed by surgical resection was introduced, reaching 5-year survival rates up to 44% and becoming the standard of care. Many efforts have been persecuted, also, to obtain higher complete resection rates using appropriate surgical approaches and involving multidisciplinary team including spine surgeon or vascular surgeon. Other potential treatment options are under consideration like prophylactic cranial irradiation or the addition of other chemotherapy agents or biologic agents to the trimodality approach.

Full Text Available This analysis identifies the various patterns of the responses of the medicines in controlling allergic conjunctivitis. The mean S Deviation coefficient of variation, correlation matrix and loading of factors are worked out as stated in the tables. In the present case the Eigen values greater than 1.50 are retained. The four factors retained explain 68% of the total variations of the 16 responses. The first factor shows 23.38% of variations in total responses while first two and first three factors show 42.39% and 58.64% respectively. Thus medicine affective in controlling the symptoms are given In the descending order: oxymetazoline and sodium salicylate and Sodium cromoglycate, Oxymetazoline and Disodium CCromoglycate & Sodium Salicylate and disodium Cromoglycate.

The San Joaquin - Tulare Conjunctive Use Model (SANTUCM) was originally developed for the San Joaquin Valley Drainage Program to evaluate possible scenarios for long-term management of drainage and drainage - related problems in the western San Joaquin Valley of California. A unique aspect of this model is its coupling of a surface water delivery and reservoir operations model with a regional groundwater model. The model also performs salinity balances along the tributaries and along the main stem of the San Joaquin River to allow assessment of compliance with State Water Resources Control Board water quality objectives for the San Joaquin River. This document is a detailed description of the various subroutines, variables and parameters used in the model.

Full Text Available Gingival recession may cause cosmetic changes and root hypersensitivity, which can alter mastication and tooth brushing, and thus contribute to the progression of periodontal disease. Treatment of gingival recessions with subepithelial conjunctive tissue grafting is very predictable due to its bilaminar nature. However, some factors may influence the success of the procedure, among them: selection of the lesion; characteristics of the defect with regard to the depth and width of the recession, the deeper and wider the recession, the worse the prognosis, and also the presence of restorations. Furthermore, it is necessary to control the etiologic factors of recessions, such as inflammation and traumatic brushing, control of systemic factors, occlusal trauma, smoking and harmful habits, technical considerations and asepsis. The success of the procedure must be based on observing the possible factors that might influence their predictability, as well as respecting the basic principles of mucogingival surgery.

Purpose Macrolide antibiotics are known to have various anti-inflammatory effects in addition to their antimicrobial activity, but the mechanisms are still unclear. The effect of azithromycin on inflammatory molecules in the lipopolysaccharide-induced rat conjunctivitis model was investigated. Methods Twenty-four Wistar rats were divided into two groups receiving topical ocular azithromycin (15 mg/g) or vehicle. In total, six doses (25 µl) were administered as one dose twice a day for three days before subconjunctival lipopolysaccharide injection (3 mg/ml). Before the rats were euthanized, mucus secretion, conjunctival and palpebral edema and redness were evaluated. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to determine gene expression for interleukin-6, cyclooxygenase-2, tumor necrosis factor-α, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, and MMP-9. Interleukin-6 was determined with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, nuclear factor-kappa B with western blot, and MMP-2 activity with gelatin zymogram. Four eyes per group were processed for histology and subsequent periodic acid-Schiff staining and CD68 for immunofluorescence. The Student t test or the Wilcoxon test for independent samples was applied (SPSS v.15.0). Results Azithromycin-treated animals showed a significant reduction in all clinical signs (p<0.05) compared to controls. Interleukin-6 (p<0.05), nuclear factor-kappa B protein expression (p<0.01), and MMP-2 activity (p<0.05) in conjunctival homogenates were significantly reduced compared with the control animals. MMP-2 gene expression showed a tendency to decrease in the azithromycin group (p=0.063). Mucus secretion by goblet cells and the macrophage count in conjunctival tissue were also decreased in the azithromycin group (p<0.05). Conclusions These results suggest that azithromycin administration ameliorates induced inflammation effects in a rat model of acute conjunctivitis. PMID:23378729

Abstract. Objective: To survey the clinical pattern of conjunctivitis with the aim ... Method: Patients with clinical features of conjunctivitis form the cohort of this study. ... sensitivity tests, and were investigated by standard microbiological methods.

Two experiments used within-subject designs to examine how conjunction errors depend on the use of (1) choice versus estimation tasks, (2) probability versus frequency language, and (3) conjunctions of two likely events versus conjunctions of likely and unlikely events. All problems included a three-option format verified to minimize…

The efficiency of the welding of solar-cell interconnects is compared with the efficiency of soldering such interconnects, and the cases in which welding may be superior are examined. Emphasis is placed on ultrasonic welding; attention is given to the solar-cell welding machine, the application of the welding process to different solar-cell configurations, producibility, and long-life performance of welded interconnects. Much of the present work has been directed toward providing increased confidence in the reliability of welding using conditions approximating those that would occur with large-scale array production. It is concluded that there is as yet insufficient data to determine which of three methods (soldering, parallel gap welding, and ultrasonic welding) provides the longest-duration solar panel life.

Deep-space telecommunications will be severely affected by solar winds and the solar corona during a SuperiorSolarConjunction. In this paper we discuss effects of inhomogeneous solar winds on signals in deep-space telecommunications. The effects include intensity scintillations, phase scintillations, and spectral-broadening phenomena. We then give a comprehensive review of observations of signal scintillations induced by solar winds and solar coronal events using downlink signals from deep-space probes. Our review is based on our investigation of dozens of papers related to the subject. We propose a scheme to observe signal scintillations using communication signals of existing space probes. The scheme aims to advance the Chinese deep-space exploration plan. The scheme can be applied in conjunction with data communications and orbital measurements of deep-space probes once the Chinese deep-space exploration starts.%在上合期间，日冕和太阳风严重影响深空通信链路。论述了非均匀太阳风对深空通信的影响，综述了基于深空探测器下行信号的太阳风观测，以及通过反演技术进行太阳风和日冕特性研究的国内外进展。以我国的深空探测为背景，提出一套基于探测器下行信号的太阳风观测方案，并可利用现有探测器进行预先观测研究。在我国深空探测任务开始后，在数据通信和测轨的同时，进行全过程的观测实验。

Using the total electron content data obtained by the Ulysses Solar Corona Experiment during the first solarconjunction in summer 1991 (Bird et al., 1994), an estimate is presented of solar wind velocity profiles in a coronal hole and a coronal streamer area in the range between 6 and 40 solar radii.

Studies of visual working memory (VWM) have reported that different features belonging to the same object (conjunctions) are better retained than the same features belonging to spatially separated objects (disjunctions). This conjunction benefit has been taken as evidence for the theory that VWM representations are object-based. However, compared to separate features, conjunctions also occupy fewer locations. Here we tested the alternative hypothesis that the conjunction benefit reflects a spatial-based rather than an object-based advantage. Experiment 1 shows a clear VWM conjunction benefit for spatially laid out displays of memory items. However, when the same items were presented sequentially at one location (i.e., location was noninformative), memory performance was equivalent for conjunction and disjunction conditions. Experiment 2 shows that only when the probe carries spatial information (i.e., it matches the location of the memory item) does a conjunction benefit occur. Taken together, these results put important boundaries on object-based theories of VWM.

In my thesis I describe the utilization of solar energy and solar energy with building integration. In introduction it is also mentioned how the solar building works, trying to make more people understand and accept the solar building. The thesis introduces different types of solar heat collectors. I compared the difference two operation modes of solar water heating system and created examples of solar water system selection. I also introduced other solar building applications. It is conv...

Suppose we would like to know all answers to a set of statistical queries C on a data set up to small error, but we can only access the data itself using statistical queries. A trivial solution is to exhaustively ask all queries in C. Can we do any better? + We show that the number of statistical queries necessary and sufficient for this task is---up to polynomial factors---equal to the agnostic learning complexity of C in Kearns' statistical query (SQ) model. This gives a complete answer to the question when running time is not a concern. + We then show that the problem can be solved efficiently (allowing arbitrary error on a small fraction of queries) whenever the answers to C can be described by a submodular function. This includes many natural concept classes, such as graph cuts and Boolean disjunctions and conjunctions. In doing so we also give a new learning algorithm for submodular functions that improves upon recent results in a different context. While interesting from a learning theoretic point of v...

Allergic conjunctivitis (AC), although one of the most common ocular disorders in pediatric patients, is frequently overlooked, misdiagnosed, and undertreated in children. To guide pediatric health care professionals in the optimal diagnosis and management of AC in pediatric patients. To identify any existing best practice guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of AC in pediatric patients, a review of the literature published between 2004 and January 2015 was conducted. Diagnosis and treatment algorithms and guidelines for pediatric patient referrals were then developed. A literature search to identify best practice guidelines for the treatment of AC in pediatric patients failed to return any relevant articles, which highlighted the need for best practice recommendations. Based on publications on adult AC and clinical experience, this review provides step-by-step guidance for pediatric health care professionals, including recognizing clinical features of AC, establishing a comprehensive medical history, and performing a thorough physical examination to ensure a correct diagnosis and the optimal treatment or referral to an eye care specialist or allergist when required. In addition to established drug treatments, the role of subcutaneous and sublingual immunotherapy is discussed to inform pediatric health care professionals about alternative treatment options for patients who do not tolerate pharmacotherapy or who do not respond sufficiently. The diagnostic and treatment algorithms and guidelines provided in this review help address the current literature and educational gap and may lead to improvements in diagnosis and management of pediatric AC.

Full Text Available This study investigates why reasoning that involves negation is extremely difficult. We presented participants with reasoning problems containing sentences with negation of conjunctions and disjunctions in order to test predictions derived from the Mental Models Theory of human thought. According to this theory, reasoning consists of representing and comparing possibilities. Different sentential forms would require different cognitive demands. In particular, responses to a sentential negation task would be modulated by working memory load. This prediction would hold for correct responses but also for the general pattern of responses that includes incorrect responses when the task offers different response options. A within-subjects experimental design with selection paradigm was applied to test these predictions. Experimental comparisons and a complementary descriptive study yielded evidence consistent with the theory-driven predictions derived from the Mental Models Theory. The working memory load was critical for the modulation of correct responses and overall responses. We discussed alternative accounts, and suggested additional predictions for further evaluation of these phenomena.

Electromigrative techniques such as capillary and microchip electrophoresis (CE and MCE) are inherently associated with various electrochemical phenomena. The electrolytic processes occurring in the buffer reservoirs have to be considered for a proper design of miniaturized electrophoretic systems and a suitable selection of buffer composition. In addition, the control of the electroosmotic flow plays a crucial role for the optimization of CE/MCE separations. Electroanalytical methods have significant importance in the field of detection in conjunction with CE/MCE. At present, amperometric detection and contactless conductivity detection are the predominating electrochemical detection methods for CE/MCE. This paper reviews the most recent trends in the field of electrochemical detection coupled to CE/MCE. The emphasis is on methodical developments and new applications that have been published over the past five years. A rather new way for the implementation of electrochemical methods into CE systems is the concept of electrochemically assisted injection which involves the electrochemical conversions of analytes during the injection step. This approach is particularly attractive in hyphenation to mass spectrometry (MS) as it widens the range of CE-MS applications. An overview of recent developments of electrochemically assisted injection coupled to CE is presented.

This paper resolves the main open question left by Gottlob, Lee, and Valiant (PODS 2009)[GLV09], establishing tight worst-case bounds for the size of the result Q(D) of a conjunctive query Q to a database D given an arbitrary set of functional dependencies. We show that the lower bound presented in [GLV09] in which the variables of the query are "colored" so as to yield a coloring number C(Q) for each query Q is, in fact, also an upper bound. To show this, we formalize the original intuition that each color used represents some possible entropy of that variable, and express the maximum possible size increase as a linear program that seeks to maximize how much more entropy is in the result of the query than the input. Although this linear program has exponentially many variables, we also show that we can decide in polynomial time whether the result can be any larger than the input database.

... Department of the Navy Superior Supplier Incentive Program AGENCY: Department of the Navy, DoD. ACTION... policy that will establish a Superior Supplier Incentive Program (SSIP). Under the SSIP, contractors that..., performance, quality, and business relations would be granted Superior Supplier Status (SSS). Contractors...

The Solar System Educators Program is a nationwide network of highly motivated teachers who lead workshops that show other teachers in their local communities how to successfully incorporate NASA materials and research into their classes. Currently there are 57 Solar System Educators in 37 states whose workshops are designed to assist their fellow teachers in understanding and including standards-based NASA materials into their classroom activities. Solar System Educators attend a training institute during their first year in the program and have the option of attending subsequent annual institutes. The volunteers in this program receive additional web-based mission-specific telecon trainings in conjunction with the Solar System Ambassadors. Resource and handout materials in the form of DVDs, posters, pamphlets, fact sheets, postcards and bookmarks are also provided. Scientists can get involved with this program by partnering with the Solar System Educators in their regions, presenting at their workshops and mentoring these outstanding volunteers. This formal education program helps optimize project funding set aside for education through the efforts of these volunteer master teachers. At the same time, teachers become familiar with NASA's educational materials with which to inspire students into pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

Full Text Available Before initiating the building operations for the «Palos Verdes» School, the site was divided into two large horizontal surfaces, at different levels. The lower one served to accommodate the playing fields, a car park, the physical training building, and shop and ancillary buildings. On the higher of these two surfaces, and to the West of the access road, there is a car park and also the building and plot of ground devoted to agricultural technology, as well as the literary studies and general purpose buildings. As a complement to these, there is a series of blocks, arranged in parallel rows, which house the administrative offices, the art school, the craft's school, the general classrooms, and those devoted to higher education. The fascinating aspect of this school is the outstanding penetration of the architect's mind into the essential function of the project. Its most evident merit is the sense of comradeship and harmony that permeates the whole architectural manifold.Antes de construir el complejo escolar «Palos Verdes» se comenzó por crear, en el terreno, dos grandes mesetas a niveles diferentes. Sobre el inferior se organizaron: los campos de juegos, de deportes, un aparcamiento, el edificio para educación física y los destinados a tiendas y servicios. Sobre la meseta superior, al oeste de la vía de acceso, se dispuso un aparcamiento y el edificio y campo para adiestramiento agrícola; al este, otro aparcamiento, el edificio dedicado a materias literarias, y el destinado a usos múltiples. Completan las instalaciones de la escuela una serie de bloques paralelos: la administración, la escuela de arte, las clases de trabajos manuales, las aulas de enseñanzas generales, y las de los cursos superiores. Lo fascinante de este complejo escolar es la perfecta y magistral compenetración del arquitecto con el tema proyectado, y su mayor mérito, la sensación de cordialidad y armonía con el ambiente.

Two experiments examined conjunction memory errors on a continuous recognition task where the lag between parent words (e.g., blackmail, jailbird) and later conjunction lures (blackbird) was manipulated. In Experiment 1, contrary to expectations, the conjunction error rate was highest at the shortest lag (1 word) and decreased as the lag increased. In Experiment 2 the conjunction error rate increased significantly from a 0- to a 1-word lag, then decreased slightly from a 1- to a 5-word lag. The results provide mixed support for simple familiarity and dual-process accounts of recognition. Paradoxically, searching for an item in memory does not appear to be a good encoding task.

BACKGROUND: Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae are two important and frequently overlooked causes of neonatal and adult conjunctivitis. OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: In order to improve primary treatment, prevention, and control of infection caused by these organisms, an analysis of all cases presenting from July 2002 to December 2006 at a major Irish regional teaching hospital was performed. RESULTS: There were 51 cases of conjunctivitis in total. Among neonates and adults, C. trachomatis was the most common cause of conjunctivitis. Of the adult patients, 75% were men. The annual incidence of adult chlamydial conjunctivitis increased yearly from 2002 and correlated with an overall increase in genital chlamydia infection in the region. Neonatal chlamydial conjunctivitis has an overall incidence of 0.65\\/1000 live births and is continuing to rise annually. In 2006, gonococcal conjunctivitis accounted for 20% of all cases of conjunctivitis caused by sexually transmitted bacteria presenting to our hospital. CONCLUSIONS: The recent increase in the incidence of gonococcal keratitis serves to remind us that this important infection should be borne in mind when treating cases of purulent conjunctivitis. The diagnosis of chlamydial and gonococcal conjunctivitis requires a high index of suspicion and prompt treatment with systemic antibiotics.

Cytologic investigations was performed in four groups of patients: central group (10 cares), without pathologic lesions; 12 patients were admitted with allergic conjunctivitis (with positive allergy tests, atopic state or clinical manifest allergic diseases), 20 cases with bacterial conjunctivitis; 8 cases with mix allergic and bacterial conjunctivitis (that hardly respond to therapy). Smears from the conjunctivae secretion were air-dried and stained with blue-polycrometanin Drăgan method. Cytologic lesions characteristic for each group of patients are described. Our results suggest that cytology from the conjunctivae secretion is helpful in the diagnosis of the allergic etiology; also, it accurately the allergic components mix conjunctivitis.

Unconventional fuel development will require scarce water resources. In an environment characterized by scarcity, and where most water resources are fully allocated, prospective development will require minimizing water use and seeking to use water resources in the most efficient manner. Conjunctive use of surface and groundwater provides just such an opportunity. Conjunctive use includes two main practices: First, integrating surface water diversions and groundwater withdrawals to maximize efficiency and minimize impacts on other resource users and ecological processes. Second, conjunctive use includes capturing surplus or unused surface water and injecting or infiltrating that water into groundwater aquifers in order to increase recharge rates. Conjunctive management holds promise as a means of addressing some of the West's most intractable problems. Conjunctive management can firm up water supplies by more effectively capturing spring runoff and surplus water, and by integrating its use with groundwater withdrawals; surface and groundwater use can be further integrated with managed aquifer recharge projects. Such integration can maximize water storage and availability, while simultaneously minimizing evaporative loss, reservoir sedimentation, and surface use impacts. Any of these impacts, if left unresolved, could derail commercial-scale unconventional fuel development. Unconventional fuel developers could therefore benefit from incorporating conjunctive use into their development plans. Despite its advantages, conjunctive use is not a panacea. Conjunctive use means using resources in harmony to maximize and stabilize long-term supplies it does not mean maximizing the use of two separate but interrelated resources for unsustainable short-term gains and it cannot resolve all problems or provide water where no unappropriated water exists. Moreover, conjunctive use may pose risks to ecological values forgone when water that would otherwise remain in a stream

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A solar flare is a short-lived sudden increase in the intensity of radiation emitted in the neighborhood of sunspots. For many years it was best monitored in the...

Solar storms begin with an explosion, or solar flare, on the surface of the sun. The X-rays and extreme ultraviolet radiation from the flare reach the Earths orbit minutes later-travelling at light speed. The ionization of upper layers of our atmosphere could cause radio blackouts and satellite navigation errors (GPS). Soon after, a wave of energetic particles, electrons and protons accelerated by the explosion crosses the orbit of the Earth, and can cause real and significant damage. (Author)

Conclusions: Although artificial tears had a positive effect in reducing symptoms of allergic conjunctivitis, by the washing out of allergens, levocabastine was more effective than artificial tears in controlling acute symptoms of allergic conjunctivitis, demonstrating that the selective H1 histamine-receptor antagonist action of levocabastine is rapidly effective in a clinical setting.

We studied the conjunction practical stability and controllability of large-scale impulsive control systems by using the comparison systems and vector Lyapunov functions.Then the less conservative sufficient conditions for conjunction practical stability and controllability of large-scale impulsive control system were obtained.

Full Text Available Interpretation formulas for conjunctions and particles in the explanatory Ukrainian language dictionary Interpretation formulas for conjunctions and particles in the Ukrainian Language Dictionary are defined. The peculiarities of presenting lexical semantics for these parts of speech in the explanatory part of the dictionary entry are described. The way of presenting interpretation formulas using synonyms is also described.

Satellite conjunction assessment is perhaps the fastest growing area in space situational awareness and protection with military, civil and commercial satellite owner-operators embracing more and more sophisticated processes to avoid the avoidable - namely collisions between high value space assets and orbital debris. NASA and Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) have collaborated to offer an introductory short course on all the major aspects of the conjunctions assessment problem. This half-day course will cover satellite conjunction dynamics and theory. Joint Space Operations Center (JsPOC) conjunction data products, major risk assessment parameters and plots, conjunction remediation decision support, and present and future challenges. This briefing represents the NASA portion of the course.

Chlamydia trachomatis com a conjuntivite alérgica, dada à possibilidade de alterar o prognóstico visual e os sintomas se potencializarem no caso de acometimento duplo. Desta forma faz-se necessário a realização da imunofluorescência direta para o devido diagnóstico em pacientes com conjuntivite alérgica.Purpose: The aim of this paper was to identify a possible association between allergic conjunctivitis and Chlamydia trachomatis infection. Methods: A prospective study was carried out in 104 eyes of 52 patients with diagnosis of vernal conjunctivitis and atopic keratoconjunctivitis. Conjunctival cytology was performed in all the 52 patients, once it can evidence eosinophils presence and inclusions corpuscles in the conjunctival scraping smear, as well as the direct immunofluorescence that is the choice exam for Chlamydia trachomatis infection confirmation. All procedures were approved by the Institutional Review Board Ethics Committee. Results: Of the 52 patients, 41 (78.8% presented vernal conjunctivitis and 11 (21.2% atopic keratoconjunctivitis. Forty-one patients (78.8% were male and 11 (21.2% female. The ages varied from 3 to 19 years, with an average of 9.8 years. Regarding racial distribution, 16 (30.8% patients were caucasian, 14 (26.9% were black and 22 (42.3% were brown. Regarding systemic allergic diseases, it was observed that 25 (48.1% patients presented asthma, 20 (38.5% allergic rhinitis and 5 (9.6% atopic dermatitis. The main symptoms complained by the patients were coryza (59.6%, ocular itching (98.1%, burning (61.5%, tearing (65.3% and photophobia (61.5%. The main clinical signs were: ocular hyperemia (100%, bilaterality (100%, superior tarsal papilla (92.3% and mucous secretion (82.7%. The cytology of the conjunctival scrapings found eosinophil in 86.5% of the cases. Only seven patients did not present eosinophils in the conjunctival scrapings. Three patients (5.8% presented positive immunofluorescence for Chlamydia, evidencing an association

Full Text Available The Redwood highway, through the Californian forest, runs on a viaduct, as it crosses a mountain slope of about 45° inclination. The firm ground is fairly deep, and as an additional constructional difficulty, it was necessary to respect the natural beauty of the countryside. A structure of portal frames were built, forming a number of short spans. These spans were bridged with metal girders, on which a 19 m wide deck was placed. The columns are hollow and have a transversal cross beam, to join each pair. There was difficulty in excavating the foundations for the columns, as it was necessary to dig through the soft top soil, and also prevent this soil from hurting the trunks of the forest trees. Another significant difficulty in the construction of this viaduct was the access to the working site, since there were no suitable platforms from which to operate the appropriate machinery. This made it necessary to do a lot of the work by manual operation. As one of the edges of the deck is very close to the mountain side, a supporting beam was erected on this side. It was made of concrete, on metal piles. The formwork for the deck structure was placed on the concrete stems of the supporting piles.La autopista denominada Redwood (California salva, con un paso superior, la ladera de un bosque cuya pendiente es del 1/1. El terreno firme se halla a bastante profundidad, añadiéndose, a los naturales problemas de la construcción, el imperativo de respetar la belleza agreste del paraje. La solución adoptada consiste en una estructura porticada, con varios tramos de pequeñas luces, salvados con vigas metálicas, sobre los que se coloca la losa del tablero, de 19 m de anchura total. Los soportes están constituidos por pórticos de dos montantes huecos (con bases de hormigón en masa por debajo del suelo, hasta el firme coronados por un cabezal. La perforación de pozos para el hormigonado de los montantes presentaba la dificultad de atravesar el terreno

Pseudodisplacement of a left sided superior vena cava catheter in a persistent superior vena cava may be expected in adults in 0,37% and in a group of children with congenital heart disease in 2,5%. Embryology, anatomy and clinical implications is discussed on the basis of our own cases. The vena cava superior sinistra persitents is depending on a sufficient calibre a suitable vessel for a superior cava catheter.

Presented is the utilization of solar radiation as an energy resource principally for the production of electricity. Included are discussions of solar thermal conversion, photovoltic conversion, wind energy, and energy from ocean temperature differences. Future solar energy plans, the role of solar energy in plant and fossil fuel production, and…

This note first introduces what is a solar combisystem, the structure how a solar combisystem is build up and what are criteria’s to evaluate a solar combisystem concept. Further on the main components of a solar combisystem, the main characteristics and possible advantages and disadvantages...... compared to each other are described. It is not the goal of this note to explain the technical details how to design all components of a solar combisystem. This is done during other lectures of the solar course and in other basic courses as well. This note tries to explain how a solar combisystem...

The book opens with a review of the patterns of energy use and resources in the United States, and an exploration of the potential of solar energy to supply some of this energy in the future. This is followed by background material on solar geometry, solar intensities, flat plate collectors, and economics. Detailed attention is then given to a variety of solar units and systems, including domestic hot water systems, space heating systems, solar-assisted heat pumps, intermediate temperature collectors, space heating/cooling systems, concentrating collectors for high temperatures, storage systems, and solar total energy systems. Finally, rights to solar access are discussed.

The book opens with a review of the patterns of energy use and resources in the United States, and an exploration of the potential of solar energy to supply some of this energy in the future. This is followed by background material on solar geometry, solar intensities, flat plate collectors, and economics. Detailed attention is then given to a variety of solar units and systems, including domestic hot water systems, space heating systems, solar-assisted heat pumps, intermediate temperature collectors, space heating/cooling systems, concentrating collectors for high temperatures, storage systems, and solar total energy systems. Finally, rights to solar access are discussed.

Conventional solar adaptive optics uses one deformable mirror (DM) and one guide star for wave-front sensing, which seriously limits high-resolution imaging over a large field of view (FOV). Recent progress toward multiconjugate adaptive optics indicates that atmosphere turbulence induced wave-front distortion at different altitudes can be reconstructed by using multiple guide stars. To maximize the performance over a large FOV, we propose a solar tomography adaptive optics (TAO) system that uses tomographic wave-front information and uses one DM. We show that by fully taking advantage of the knowledge of three-dimensional wave-front distribution, a classical solar adaptive optics with one DM can provide an extra performance gain for high-resolution imaging over a large FOV in the near infrared. The TAO will allow existing one-deformable-mirror solar adaptive optics to deliver better performance over a large FOV for high-resolution magnetic field investigation, where solar activities occur in a two-dimensional field up to 60'', and where the near infrared is superior to the visible in terms of magnetic field sensitivity.

Purpose To describe findings in prostatic arteries (PAs) at digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and cone-beam computed tomography (CT) that allow identification of benign prostatic hyperplasia and to determine the value added with the use of cone-beam CT. Materials and Methods This retrospective single-institution study was approved by the institutional review board, and the requirement for written informed consent was waived. From February 2009 to December 2014, a total of 148 patients (mean age ± standard deviation, 70.5 years ± 14.5) underwent DSA of the internal iliac arteries and cone-beam CT with a flat-detector angiographic system before they underwent prostate artery embolization. Both the DSA and cone-beam CT images were evaluated by two interventional radiologists to determine the number of independent PAs and their origins and anastomoses with adjacent arteries. The exact McNemar test was used to compare the detection rate of the PAs and the anastomoses with DSA and with cone-beam CT. Results The PA anatomy was evaluated successfully by means of cone-beam CT in conjunction with DSA in all patients. Of the 296 pelvic sides, 274 (92.6%) had only one PA. The most frequent PA origin was the common gluteal-pudendal trunk with the superior vesicular artery in 118 (37.1%), followed by the anterior division of the internal iliac artery in 99 (31.1%), and the internal pudendal artery in 77 (24.2%) pelvic sides. In 67 (22.6%) pelvic sides, anastomoses to adjacent arteries were documented. The numbers of PA origins and anastomoses, respectively, that could be identified were significantly higher with cone-beam CT (301 of 318 [94.7%] and 65 of 67 [97.0%]) than with DSA (237 [74.5%] and 39 [58.2%], P Cone-beam CT provided essential information that was not available with DSA in 90 of 148 (60.8%) patients. Conclusion Cone-beam CT is a useful adjunctive technique to DSA for identification of the PA anatomy and provides information to help treatment planning during

Full Text Available This paper presents a Dye sensitized solar cell (DYSSC, which is called as future generation solar cell. It is a new class of green photovoltaic cell based on photosynthesis principle in nature. DYSSCs are fabricated using two different natural dyes as sensitizers, which extracted from the materials existing in nature and our life, such as flowers, leaves, fruits, traditional Chinese medicines, and beverages. The use of sensitizers having a broad absorption band in conjunction with oxide films of nanocrystalline morphology permits to harvest a large fraction of sunlight. There are good prospects to produce these cells at lower cost and much better efficiency than conventional semiconductor devices by introducing various chemical and natural dyes. DYSSC are implemented with simple and new technique to overcome the energy crisis and excess cost of semiconductor solar cells.

James Griffin has considered a weak form of superiority in value a possible remedy to the Repugnant Conclusion. In this paper, I demonstrate that, in a context where value is additive, this weaker form collapses into a stronger form of superiority. And in a context where value is non-additive, weak...... superiority does not amount to a radical value difference at all. I then spell out the consequences of these results for different interpretations of Griffin's suggestion regarding population ethics. None of them comes out very successful, but perhaps they nevertheless retain some interest....

To date, there is no ideal anti-reflection (AR) coating available on solar glass which can effectively transmit the incident light within the visible wavelength range. However, there is a need to develop multifunctional coatingwith superior anti-reflection properties and self-cleaning ability meant to be used for solar glass panels. In spite of self-cleaning ability of materials like TiO2 and ZnO, these coatings on glass substrate have tendency to reduce lighttransmission due to their high refractive indices than glass. Thus, to infuse the anti-reflective property, a low refractive index, SiO$_2$ layer needs to be used in conjunction with TiO$_2$ and ZnO layers. In such case, the optimization ofindividual layer thickness is crucial to achieve maximum transmittance of the visible light. In the present study, we propose an omni-directional anti-reflection coating design for the visible spectral wavelength range of 400–700 nm,where the maximum intensity of light is converted into electrical energy. Herein, we employ the quarter wavelength criteria using SiO$_2$, TiO$_2$ and ZnO to design the coating composed of single, double and triple layers. The thicknessof individual layers was optimized for maximum light transmittance using essential Mcleod simulation software to produce destructive interference between reflected waves and constructive interference between transmitted waves.

James Griffin has considered a form of superiority in value that is weaker than lexical priority as a possible remedy to the Repugnant Conclusion. In this article, I demonstrate that, in a context where value is additive, this weaker form collapses into the stronger form of superiority. And in a ......James Griffin has considered a form of superiority in value that is weaker than lexical priority as a possible remedy to the Repugnant Conclusion. In this article, I demonstrate that, in a context where value is additive, this weaker form collapses into the stronger form of superiority...... of these results for different interpretations of Griffin's suggestion regarding population ethics. None of them comes out very successful, but perhaps they nevertheless retain some interest....

Planting genetically superior loblolly pines will probably yield high profits.Forest economists have made computer simulations that predict financial gains expected from a tree improvement program under actual field conditions.

Full Text Available Superior mesenteric artery syndrome is a rare and lifethreateningclinical condition caused by the compressionof the third portion of the duodenum between the aortaand the superior mesenteric artery’s proximal part. Thiscompression may lead to chronic intermittent, acute totalor partial obstruction. Sudden weight-loss and the relateddecrease in the fat tissue are considered to be the etiologicalreason of acute stenosis. Weight-loss accompaniedby nausea, vomiting, anorexia, epigastric pain, andbloating are the leading complaints. Barium radiographs,computerized tomography, conventional angiography,tomographic and magnetic resonance angiography areused in the diagnosis. There are medical and surgical approachesto treatment. We hereby present the case ofa patient with superior mesenteric artery syndrome withdelayed diagnosis.Key words: superior mesenteric artery syndrome, nausea-vomiting, anorexia

[structure: see text] New conjunctive reagents E-2 and Z-3 can be used, after transmetalation, in Negishi couplings with vinyl and aryl iodides. The subsequently unmasked terminal alkynes can be further manipulated to arrive at retinoid-like products.

An operational Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis (CARA) concept is the real-time process of assessing risk posed by close approaches and reacting to those risks if necessary. The most effective way to completely mitigate conjunction risk is to perform an avoidance maneuver. The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has implemented a routine CARA process since 2005. Over this period, considerable experience has been gained and many lessons have been learned. This paper identifies and presents these experiences as general concepts in the description of the Conjunction Assessment, Flight Dynamics, and Flight Operations methodologies and processes. These general concepts will be tied together and will be exemplified through a case study of an actual high risk conjunction event for the Aura mission.

Leiomyosarcoma of the superior vena cava is a very rare tumor and only a few cases have been reported, with various techniques of vascular reconstruction. We describe a new case of leiomyosarcoma of the superior vena cava in a 61-year-old woman with extension to the brachiocephalic arterial trunk. Resection and vascular reconstruction were performed using, respectively, polytetrafluoroethylene and polyethylene terephtalate vascular grafts.

Superior mesenteric artery syndrome is an entity generally caused by the loss of the intervening mesenteric fat pad, resulting in compression of the third portion of the duodenum by the superior mesenteric artery. This article reports the case of a patient with irremovable metastatic adenocarcinoma in the sigmoid colon, that evolved with intense vomiting. Intestinal transit was carried out, which showed important gastric dilation extended until the third portion of the duodenum, compatible wi...

Full Text Available Total tear IgE has been considered to play an important role in allergic conjunctivitis, and measurement has been considered useful for diagnosis. The aim of this study was to ascertain whether Lacrytest®, a new commercialised method to detect IgE levels in lacrimal fluid, could constitute a screening test for the diagnosis of allergic conjunctivitis. This was a cross-sectional study. Patients with seasonal and perennial allergic conjunctivitis, vernal keratoconjunctivitis and a control group were included. Clinical history, ophthalmic examination, skin prick test and conjunctival provocation test were obtained. Lacrytest® was later performed in all groups. Fifty-four patients were enrolled: thirty with IgE-mediated conjunctivitis and, nine with vernal keratoconjunctivitis and fifteen controls. Lacrytest® was negative in all controls, positive in 20% of the IgE-mediated conjunctivitis group and in 88.9% of the vernal keratoconjunctivitis group. Global statistically-significant differences were found among the three groups (=.003. Sensitivity of the test in the IgE-mediated conjunctivitis group was 20%, specificity 100%, positive predictive value 100%, and negative predictive value 38.46%, while in VKC sensitivity was 88.88%, specificity 100%, positive predictive value 100%, and negative predictive value 93.75%. Our data confirm that this test is not useful for screening allergic conjunctivitis. Lacrytest®, while not providing any useful information to an allergist, could be helpful for ophthalmologists to confirm an IgE-mediated or VKC conjunctivitis.

Full Text Available The author argues in favor of the thesis that on the semantic level conjunctions and particles function as predicates, in other words, as constitutive members of propositions; they imply propositional, and only propositional, arguments and - in case of conjunctions - reflect the train of our thought, respectively provide information about relations between the events as perceived by the author of the text, and - in case of particles - reflect the speaker’s evaluation of corresponding events.

Solar Energy's solar panels are collectors for a solar energy system which provides heating for a drive-in bank in Akron, OH. Collectors were designed and manufactured by Solar Energy Products, a firm established by three former NASA employees. Company President, Frank Rom, an example of a personnel-type technology transfer, was a Research Director at Lewis Research Center, which conducts extensive solar heating and cooling research, including development and testing of high-efficiency flat-plate collectors. Rom acquired solar energy expertise which helped the company develop two types of collectors, one for use in domestic/commercial heating systems and the other for drying grain.

Objective To determine the prevalence of neonatal conjunctivitis and to identify the causative agents of ophthalmia neonatorum in two university affiliated hospitals from 2008 to 2009. Methods All neonates admitted in the neonatal department during the study period were examined for the presence of conjunctivitis. Two swab specimens containing epithelial cells of the conjunctiva were collected from newborns presenting with conjuntival inflammation. Laboratory diagnosis was based on direct smear for Gramstaining and bacterial culture. The isolated bacteria were identified using standard procedures. PCR and cell culture were used for identification. Results Of the 2 253 neonates, (age ranged 1–30 days), clinical findings of conjunctivitis were found in 241 cases (10.7%). The most commonly isolated bacteria were Coagulase negative staphylococci, (n=130, 53.9%); Chlamydia trachomatis was the second most common cause of acute neonatal conjunctivitis (n=40, 16.6%). Bacterial cultures were negative in 47 neonates (19.5%) despite clinical signs of conjunctivitis. The median age at presentation for bacterial culture positive was day 8 of life. Conclusions Neonatal conjunctivitis is prevalent in newborns; Gram positive cocci and Chlamydia trachomatis are the most common causative organisms.

Visual narratives sometimes depict successive images with different characters in the same physical space; corpus analysis has revealed that this occurs more often in Japanese manga than American comics. We used event-related brain potentials to determine whether comprehension of "visual narrative conjunctions" invokes not only incremental mental updating as traditionally assumed, but also, as we propose, "grammatical" combinatoric processing. We thus crossed (non)/conjunction sequences with character (in)/congruity. Conjunctions elicited a larger anterior negativity (300-500 ms) than nonconjunctions, regardless of congruity, implicating "grammatical" processes. Conjunction and incongruity both elicited larger P600s (500-700 ms), indexing updating. Both conjunction effects were modulated by participants' frequency of reading manga while growing up. Greater anterior negativity in frequent manga readers suggests more reliance on combinatoric processing; larger P600 effects in infrequent manga readers suggest more resources devoted to mental updating. As in language comprehension, it seems that processing conjunctions in visual narratives is not just mental updating but also partly grammatical, conditioned by comic readers' experience with specific visual narrative structures.

In 1986, an outbreak of Moraxella follicular conjunctivitis occurred in girls attending a Navajo boarding school in New Mexico. We diagnosed 19 cases of culture-proven, and 21 of clinical conjunctivitis based on isolation of Moraxella from conjunctival cultures and the occurrence of symptoms significantly associated with positive culture. Sharing eye makeup was significantly associated with Moraxella-positive conjunctivitis (odds ratio [OR] = 7.2, P = .004) and showed a trend toward significance in those with clinical conjunctivitis (OR = 2.9, P = .09). Eyeliner and eye shadow were implicated (OR = 4.1, P less than .05). We cultured samples of 13 students' makeup; one third of the eyeliners were positive for Moraxella. Nasal carriage of Moraxella was found in 35 (44%) of the 79 female boarders and in 20 (21%) of 97 Navajo patients at two nearby clinics. In a prospective evaluation of the effect of patient education and rifampin therapy on the occurrence of conjunctivitis during an 11-month follow-up period, both types of intervention were successful in significantly reducing the rate of conjunctivitis when compared with that in a control group.

Full Text Available Hande Taylan Şekeroğlu,1 Ali Sefik Sanac,1 Umut Arslan,2 Emin Cumhur Sener11Department of Ophthalmology, 2Department of Biostatistics, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, TurkeyBackground: The purpose of this paper is to review different types of superior oblique muscle surgeries, to describe the main areas in clinical practice where superior oblique surgery is required or preferred, and to discuss the preferred types of superior oblique surgery with respect to their clinical outcomes.Methods: A consecutive nonrandomized retrospective series of patients who had undergone superior oblique muscle surgery as a single procedure were enrolled in the study. The diagnosis, clinical features, preoperative and postoperative vertical deviations in primary position, type of surgery, complications, and clinical outcomes were reviewed. The primary outcome measures were the type of strabismus and the type of superior oblique muscle surgery. The secondary outcome measure was the results of the surgeries.Results: The review identified 40 (20 male, 20 female patients with a median age of 6 (2–45 years. Nineteen patients (47.5% had Brown syndrome, eleven (27.5% had fourth nerve palsy, and ten (25.0% had horizontal deviations with A pattern. The most commonly performed surgery was superior oblique tenotomy in 29 (72.5% patients followed by superior oblique tuck in eleven (27.5% patients. The amount of vertical deviation in the fourth nerve palsy and Brown syndrome groups (P = 0.01 for both and the amount of A pattern in the A pattern group were significantly reduced postoperatively (P = 0.02.Conclusion: Surgery for the superior oblique muscle requires experience and appropriate preoperative evaluation in view of its challenging nature. The main indications are Brown syndrome, fourth nerve palsy, and A pattern deviations. Superior oblique surgery may be effective in terms of pattern collapse and correction of vertical deviations in primary

This manual was intended as a text for participants in the Solar Heating/Cooling seminars presented in conjunction with the ERDA Transportable Solar Laboratory in various regions of the US. The seminar was designed to introduce the practical aspects of solar heating/cooling systems to HVAC contractors, architects, engineers, and other interested individuals. The two-day course enabled the attendees to assess potential solar applications in their geographic area, including tools to do a preliminary design of the system and to analyze its economic benefits. (WDM)

Passive solar design techniques are becoming increasingly important in building design. This design reference book takes the building engineer or physicist step-by-step through the thermal analysis and design of passive solar buildings. In particular it emphasises two important topics: the maximum utilization of available solar energy and thermal storage, and the sizing of an appropriate auxiliary heating/cooling system in conjunction with good thermal control.Thermal Analysis and Design of Passive Solar Buildings is an important contribution towards the optimization of buildings as systems th

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of solar photographic and illustrated datasets contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide....

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of indices related to solar activity contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide. This...

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of solar feature datasets contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide.

Full Text Available A 35-year-old female and a 41-year-old male presented with clinical features suggestive of solar urticaria. The diagnosis of solar urticaria and the effectiveness of a combination of H1 and H2 blocking antihistamines were confirmed by phototesting with a solar simulator

... conjunction with spices, seasonings, and flavorings. 182.40 Section 182.40 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG... in conjunction with spices, seasonings, and flavorings. Natural extractives (solvent-free) used in conjunction with spices, seasonings, and flavorings that are generally recognized as safe for their...

... given right after birth Infection by bacteria or viruses Bacteria that normally live in a woman's vagina may ... the time of delivery. She still may carry bacteria or viruses that can cause this problem.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of indices related to solar activity contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide. This...

The Probability of Collision (Pc) has become a universal metric and statement of on-orbit collision risk. Although several flavors of the computation exist and are well-documented in the literature, the basic calculation requires the same input: estimates for the position, position uncertainty, and sizes of the two objects involved. The Pc is used operationally to make decisions on whether a given conjunction poses significant collision risk to the primary object (or space asset of concern). It is also used to determine necessity and degree of mitigative action (typically in the form of an orbital maneuver) to be performed. The predicted post-maneuver Pc also informs the maneuver planning process into regarding the timing, direction, and magnitude of the maneuver needed to mitigate the collision risk. Although the data sources, techniques, decision calculus, and workflows vary for different agencies and organizations, they all have a common thread. The standard conjunction assessment and collision risk concept of operations (CONOPS) predicts conjunctions, assesses the collision risk (typically, via the Pc), and plans and executes avoidance activities for conjunctions as a discrete events. As the space debris environment continues to increase and improvements are made to remote sensing capabilities and sensitivities to detect, track, and predict smaller debris objects, the number of conjunctions will in turn continue to increase. The expected order-of-magnitude increase in the number of predicted conjunctions will challenge the paradigm of treating each conjunction as a discrete event. The challenge will not be limited to workload issues, such as manpower and computing performance, but also the ability for satellite owner/operators to successfully execute their mission while also managing on-orbit collision risk. Executing a propulsive maneuver occasionally can easily be absorbed into the mission planning and operations tempo; whereas, continuously planning evasive

Since the emergence of the practice turn in social sciences (Golsorkhi et al. 2010), studies have shown a number of institutionally relevant aspects as achievements across time and by means of various resources (human and non-human) (Taylor & van Every 2000, Cooren et al. 2006). Such a process view...... on organizational practices relates closely to an increased focus on communication as being constitutive of the organization in general and the superior-subordinate relationship in specific. The current study aims to contribute to this line of research by investigating micro-practices involved in establishing...... superior-subordinate relations in a specific institutionalized setting: performance appraisal interviews (PAIs). While one main task of PAIs is to manage and integrate organizational and employee performance (Fletcher, 2001:473), PAIs are also organizational practices where superior-subordinate relations...

Design innovations and government-sponsored financial incentives are making solar energy increasingly attractive to homeowners and institutional customers such as school districts. In particular, the passive solar design concept of daylighting is gaining favor among educators due to evidence of improved performance by students working in daylit classrooms. Electricity-generating photovoltaic systems are also becoming more popular, especially in states such as California that have high electric rates and frequent power shortages. To help spread the word about solar power, the U.S. Department of Energy staged its first-ever Solar Decathlon in October 2002. This event featured solar-savvy homes designed by 14 college teams.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recognizes the risk of on-orbit collisions from other satellites and debris objects and has instituted a process to identify and react to close approaches. The charter of the NASA Robotic Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis (CARA) task is to protect NASA robotic (unmanned) assets from threats posed by other space objects. Monitoring for potential collisions requires formulating close-approach predictions a week or more in the future to determine analyze, and respond to orbital conjunction events of interest. These predictions require propagation of the latest state vector and covariance assuming a predicted atmospheric density and ballistic coefficient. Any differences between the predicted drag used for propagation and the actual drag experienced by the space objects can potentially affect the conjunction event. Therefore, the space environment itself, in particular how space weather impacts atmospheric drag, is an essential element to understand in order effectively to assess the risk of conjunction events. The focus of this research is to develop a better understanding of the impact of space weather on conjunction assessment activities: both accurately determining the current risk and assessing how that risk may change under dynamic space weather conditions. We are engaged in a data-- ]mining exercise to corroborate whether or not observed changes in a conjunction event's dynamics appear consistent with space weather changes and are interested in developing a framework to respond appropriately to uncertainty in predicted space weather. In particular, we use historical conjunction event data products to search for dynamical effects on satellite orbits from changing atmospheric drag. Increased drag is expected to lower the satellite specific energy and will result in the satellite's being 'later' than expected, which can affect satellite conjunctions in a number of ways depending on the two satellites' orbits

In addition to wind and photovoltaic power, concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) will make a major contribution to electricity provision from renewable energies. Drawing on almost 30 years of operational experience in the multi-megawatt range, CSP is now a proven technology with a reliable cost and performance record. In conjunction with thermal energy storage, electricity can be provided according to demand. To date, solar thermal power plants with a total capacity of 1.3 GW are in operation worldwide, with an additional 2.3 GW under construction and 31.7 GW in advanced planning stage. Depending on the concentration factors, temperatures up to 1000°C can be reached to produce saturated or superheated steam for steam turbine cycles or compressed hot gas for gas turbine cycles. The heat rejected from these thermodynamic cycles can be used for sea water desalination, process heat and centralized provision of chilled water. While electricity generation from CSP plants is still more expensive than from wind turbines or photovoltaic panels, its independence from fluctuations and daily variation of wind speed and solar radiation provides it with a higher value. To become competitive with mid-load electricity from conventional power plants within the next 10-15 years, mass production of components, increased plant size and planning/operating experience will be accompanied by technological innovations. On 30 October 2009, a number of major industrial companies joined forces to establish the so-called DESERTEC Industry Initiative, which aims at providing by 2050 15 per cent of European electricity from renewable energy sources in North Africa, while at the same time securing energy, water, income and employment for this region. Solar thermal power plants are in the heart of this concept.

The Lake Superior Aquatic Invasive Species Complete Prevention Plan is an expression of the best professional judgment of the members of the Lake Superior Task Force as to what is necessary to protect Lake Superior from new aquatic invasive species.

We have studied the clinicoetiological, serological, and molecular epidemiological features of adenoviral conjunctivitis under the auspices of the nationwide surveillance project in Sapporo, located in northern Japan. We were able to analyze the results of 1,454 cases of adenoviral, herpetic, and chlamydial conjunctivitis. We found that adenonovirus serotypes 8, 19, and 37 caused severe conjunctivitis without systemic symptoms, whereas serotypes Ad3, Ad7, and Ad11 caused mild conjunctivitis with systemic involvement. Ad4 showed a broad range of symptoms, from PCF to EKC. Adenoviral conjunctivitis had seasonal outbreaks in the summer in association with adequate temperature and humidity in Sapporo. Neutralization antibodies against Ad8, Ad19, and Ad37 were detected in fewer than 20% of cases, and so the incidence of epidemics with these serotypes may rise in the coming years. The main genome types of adenovirus in Sapporo were Ad4a, Ad8e, Ad19a, Ad19b, and Ad37p, a, and b.

Full Text Available Purpose. To investigate the short-term effect of air pollution on occurrence of nonspecific conjunctivitis. Methods. Data were collected from outpatient visits from cases with conjunctivitis over a period of one year. Regression analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship between the number of outpatient visits and the air quality and the lag effect of air quality on conjunctivitis occurrence. Results. The air quality index on the day of presentation (P=0.023, one day before presentation (P=0.049, and two days before presentation day (P=0.050 had a positive relation with outpatient visits for conjunctivitis. The air quality index (P=0.001 and outpatient visits number per day (P=0.013 in autumn and winter (October to March were significantly higher than those in spring (April and summer (September. Conclusions. The air quality index within two days before presentation affected the probability of attending the outpatient clinic for nonspecific conjunctivitis. High number of cases can be expected in colder season.

The authors conducted this study to determine the etiologic agents of conjunctivitis in early infancy. From 1985 to 1990, 630 infants enrolled in a randomized, controlled, double-masked study of eye prophylaxis were observed for 60 days after delivery for signs of conjunctivitis. The following isolates were categorized as pathogens: Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria cinerea, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Chlamydia trachomatis. Using conditional logistic regression for analysis of 97 infant pairs, the authors identified isolates categorized as pathogens almost exclusively among cases (odds ratio (OR) = 18.0, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.3-128). Among the microorganisms which have not usually been regarded as pathogens in the etiology of infant conjunctivitis, Streptococcus mitis was the only microorganism associated with an increased risk of conjunctivitis (OR = 5.3, 95% CI 1.8-15.0). The findings concerning the species of bacteria most often associated with conjunctivitis, as well as the finding that method of delivery is unimportant, suggest that bacteria were transmitted to the infants' eyes after birth and not from the birth canal.

The article presents the data on the structural and functional changes of conjunctive tissue of the spleen in postnatal ontogenesis of a person. The study was performed on 125 cadaveric spleens of the people of both sexes, who died from traumas and diseases not causing pathologic changes in the spleen. Definition of ontogenetic phases and chronological confines of age periods was identified according to Bunak V. V. (1965). The measurement of linear dimensions and mass of organ, histological, histochemical study and morphometry were performed. According to factual evidence, at the age from birth to 4 years the content of lymphatic follicles increases against a background of decrease of conjunctive tissue component and red pulp in the area of spleen section. By 8 or 10 years the part of lymphoid tissue decreases, but the part of conjunctive tissue and red pulp increases. Ageing symptoms are revealed at the age of 18, the increase of volume of conjunctive tissue component and destruction of external elastic membrane of trabecular artery of spleen take place. The destruction of elastic and reticulin fibers of soft skeleton, reduction of cellular elements (cells, fibroblasts and fibrocytes) and conjunctive tissue stroma collagenization are observed at a mature and old age.

This module on solar system economics is one of six in a series intended for use as supplements to currently available materials on solar energy and energy conservation. Together with the recommended texts and references (sources are identified), these modules provide an effective introduction to energy conservation and solar energy technologies.…

Abstract AIM: The aim of this study was to report our experience with palliative stent treatment of superior vena cava syndrome. METHODS: Between January 2008 and December 2009, 30 patients (mean age 60.7 years) were treated with stents because of stenosed superior vena cava. All patients presented...... there was an immediate clinical improvement with considerable reduction in the edema of upper extremities and head. There was, however, continous dyspnea in five patients (17%) and two patients (7%) had persistent visible collateral venous circulations on the upper chest. There were no stent associated complications...

We have, for the first time, designed and fabricated hydrogenated amorphous silicon solar cells to be used in conjunction with Luminescent Solar Concentrators (LSCs). LSCs are planar plastic sheets doped with organic dyes that absorb solar illumination and down shift the energy to narrowband luminescence which is collected by solar cells attached to the sheet edge. We fabricated an LSC module with two bonded solar cells and performed characterisation with the cells connected in series and parallel configurations. We find that the LSC module has an optical collection efficiency of 9.5% and an optimum power conversion efficiency of approaching 1% when the cells are in a parallel connection. (copyright 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

Objective The objective of this study was to determine the incidence of a "meniscoid" superior labrum. Materials and Methods This was a retrospective analysis of 582 magnetic resonance imaging examinations of shoulders. Of those 582 examinations, 110 were excluded, for a variety of reasons, and the final analysis therefore included 472 cases. Consensus readings were performed by three musculoskeletal radiologists using specific criteria to diagnose meniscoid labra. Results A meniscoid superior labrum was identified in 48 (10.2%) of the 472 cases evaluated. Arthroscopic proof was available in 21 cases (43.8%). In 10 (47.6%) of those 21 cases, the operative report did not include the mention a superior labral tear, thus suggesting the presence of a meniscoid labrum. In only one of those cases were there specific comments about a mobile superior labrum (i.e., meniscoid labrum). In the remaining 11 (52.4%), surgical correlation demonstrated superior labral tears. Conclusion A meniscoid superior labrum is not an infrequent finding. Depending upon assumptions and the requirement of surgical proof, the prevalence of a meniscoid superior labrum in this study was between 2.1% (surgically proven) and 4.8% (projected). However, superior labral tears are just as common and are often confused with meniscoid labra. PMID:27777474

This paper focuses on the collision risk assessment, between ATV and space debris, managed in ATV-CC at CNES during phasing to docking and de-orbit phases. First, the methods and results of middle and short term mission analyses are detailed. The effects of the two fragmentation events which occurred shortly before and after the launch (the US ASAT on USA 193 and the natural fragmentation of the Russian satellite COSMOS 2421) have been evaluated using models and data from GRAVES and USSTRATCOM catalogues. The results showed a important impact on the foreseen conjunction rate. Second, the operational procedure of the conjunction management is described. The operational organization within ATV-CC teams and with the international partners is also presented. Then, a statement of the operational conjunction management is done, showing a good consistency level with the predictions. Eventually this led to 3 avoidance events (but only one avoidance maneuver).

P2P DHT (Peer-to-Peer Distributed Hash Table) is one of typical techniques for realizing an efficient management of shared resources distributed over a network and a keyword search over such networks in a fully distributed manner. In this paper, we propose a new method for supporting conjunctive queries in P2P DHT. The basic idea of the proposed technique is to share a global information on past trials by conducting a local caching of search results for conjunctive queries and by registering the fact to the global DHT. Such a result caching is expected to significantly reduce the amount of transmitted data compared with conventional schemes. The effect of the proposed method is experimentally evaluated by simulation. The result of experiments indicates that by using the proposed method, the amount of returned data is reduced by 60% compared with conventional P2P DHT which does not support conjunctive queries.

Red eye and relapsing conjunctivitis-blepharitis are among the most common ocular disease in elderly patients. In these cases the search for causes is difficult and frustrating. We report the case of a 79-year-old woman with a long history of red eye and relapsing conjunctivitis-blepharitis caused by ocular rosacea. In this patient the proper diagnosis was performed after 10 years of ocular disease, and repeated evaluations by general practitioners and clinical specialists, only after the appearance of facial signs of erythematotelangiectatic rosacea. Adequate therapy with oral doxycycline led to the improvement of the clinical picture that previously had shown a poor response to several topical treatments. The possibility of ocular rosacea should be considered in evaluating an elderly patient with persistent red eye and relapsing conjunctivitis-blepharitis. Making the proper diagnosis is crucial because ocular rosacea does not respond as expected to topical therapy and may lead to severe corneal involvement.

Full Text Available Ligneous conjunctivitis (LC is a rare form of bilateral chronic recurrent disease in which thick membranes form on the palpebral conjunctiva and other mucosal sites. We report the clinical features and describe the management of two cases. Case 1 was an 8-month-old patient with bilateral membranous conjunctivitis. Case 2 was a 5-year-old patient with unilateral membranous conjunctivitis, esotropia, mechanical ptosis and complicated cataract, and had been treated with a number of medications. Histological investigation of the membrane in both cases showed LC. Treatments with amniotic membrane transplantation and institution of topical cyclosporine have shown good response. There has been complete resolution of the membranes with no recurrence at the end of 40- and 28-month follow-ups, respectively. No treatment related side effects were seen. Thus, it appears that amniotic membrane transplantation and topical cyclosporine are effective alternatives for the treatment of LC.

This project is a 32-bed nursing home designed as an addition to an existing facility. Passive solar strategies included direct gain room windows and clerestories which admit light to phase change salt pouches in the ceilings of patient rooms. Corridors are skykighted; and the heating, ventilating, and conditioning system is comprised of water-source heat pumps and a 5000 gallon storage tank in conjunction with an air to air heat recovery wheel.

Myiasis is the infestation of tissues and organs of animals or man by fly larvae. We report a human case of external ophthalmomyiasis caused by the larvae of a sheep nasal botfly, Oestrus ovis, for the first time in a veterinary doctor. A 25-year-old veterinary doctor presented with severe symptoms of conjunctivitis. The larvae, 3 in number, were observed in the bulbar conjunctiva and the symptoms of the eye improved within a few hours of their removal. It is important for ophthalmologists to be aware of larval conjunctivitis as a significant possibility in the veterinary fraternity especially during the summer season. PMID:23633869

Full Text Available ABSTRACTA 6-month-old female infant presented to our clinic with bilateral eyelid swelling, yellowish-white membranes under both lids, and mucoid ocular discharge. Her aunt had similar ocular problems that were undiagnosed. The conjunctival membranes were excised and histopathological investigation of these membranes showed ligneous conjunctivitis. Further, laboratory examination revealed plasminogen deficiency. A good response was observed to topical fresh frozen plasma (FFP treatment without systemic therapy, and the membranes did not recur during the treatment. Topical FFP treatment may facilitate rapid rehabilitation and prevent recurrence in patients with ligneous conjunctivitis.

Conjunctive query answering for {EL}^{++} ontologies has recently drawn much attention, as the Description Logic {EL}^{++} captures the expressivity of many large ontologies in the biomedical domain and is the foundation for the OWL 2 EL profile. In this paper, we propose a practical approach for conjunctive query answering in a fragment of {EL}^{++}, namely acyclic {EL}^+, that supports role inclusions. This approach can be implemented with low cost by leveraging any existing relational database management system to do the ABox data completion and query answering. We conducted a preliminary experiment to evaluate our approach using a large clinical data set and show our approach is practical.

A 6-month-old female infant presented to our clinic with bilateral eyelid swelling, yellowish-white membranes under both lids, and mucoid ocular discharge. Her aunt had similar ocular problems that were undiagnosed. The conjunctival membranes were excised and histopathological investigation of these membranes showed ligneous conjunctivitis. Further, laboratory examination revealed plasminogen deficiency. A good response was observed to topical fresh frozen plasma (FFP) treatment without systemic therapy, and the membranes did not recur during the treatment. Topical FFP treatment may facilitate rapid rehabilitation and prevent recurrence in patients with ligneous conjunctivitis.

The prevalence of Chlamydophila felis and Feline Herpesvirus type 1 was investigated in 30 cats with chronic conjunctivitis, with use of conjunctival swabs and conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In cats with chronic conjunctivitis the DNA of C. felis and FHV-1 was detected in 2 of 30 cats (6.7%) and in 10 of 30 animals (33.3%), respectively. One case of FHV-1 DNA, and none of C. felis was found in control group. There was no case of co-infection with both pathogens.

Solar energy is the most abundant energy resource on earth. In a sustainable future with an ever-increasing demand for energy, we will need to use this resource better. Solar energy technologies either convert sunlight directly into heat and electrical energy or use it to power chemical conversions which create 'solar fuels' or synthetic compounds. Solar heating technologies have developed steadily for many years and solar heating and cooling is one of the world's commonest renewable energy technologies. This chapter, however, focuses on technologies for electricity production and touches more briefly on the prospects for solar fuels. The section on Danish perspectives also discusses solar thermal heating in district heating plants. In recent decades, two technologies for converting solar energy into electrical energy have dominated: photovoltaics (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP). Today's silicon and thin-film PV technologies are advancing steadily, with new materials and technologies constantly being developed, and there are clear roadmaps for lowering production costs. In the discussion below we assess the maturation potential of currently emerging PV technologies within the next 40 years. Concentrating solar power is already a proven technology, and below we evaluate its potential to become a substantial part of the energy mix by 2050. Solar fuels cover a range of technologies. The chapter is to a great extent based on two recent roadmaps from the International Energy Agency (IEA). Many reports, predictions, scenarios and roadmaps for solar energy deployment exist. The IEA predictions for the penetration of solar energy in the future energy system are low relative to many of the other studies. The IEA roadmaps, however, cover most aspects of the future deployment of the technologies and reference older work. (Author)

More than 75 percent of the U.S. population lives in urban communities where people are exposed to levels of smog or pollution that exceed the EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) safety standards. Urban air quality presents a unique problem because of a number of complex variables, including traffic congestion, energy production, and energy consumption activities, all of which can contribute to and affect air pollution and air quality in this environment. In environmental engineering, photocatalysis is an area of research whose potential for environmental clean-up is rapidly developing popularity and success. Photocatalysis, a natural chemical process, is the acceleration of a photoreaction in the presence of a catalyst. Photocatalytic agents are activated when exposed to near UV (ultraviolet) light (320-400 nm) and water. In recent years, surfaces coated with photocatalytic materials have been extensively studied because pollutants on these surfaces will degrade when the surfaces are exposed to near UV light. Building materials, such as tiles, cement, glass, and aluminum sidings, can be coated with a thin film of a photocatalyst. These coated materials can then break down organic molecules, like air pollutants and smog precursors, into environmentally friendly compounds. These surfaces also exhibit a high affinity for water when exposed to UV light. Therefore, not only are the pollutants decomposed, but this superhydrophilic nature makes the surface self-cleaning, which helps to further increase the degradation rate by allowing rain and/or water to wash byproducts away. According to the Clean Air Act, each individual state is responsible for implementing prevention and regulatory programs to control air pollution. To operate an air quality program, states must adopt and/or develop a plan and obtain approval from the EPA. Federal approval provides a means for the EPA to maintain consistency among different state programs and ensures that they comply with the requirements of the Clean Air Act.

The Korean and Chinese languages have the same cultural origin, which bear some similarities and differences in many aspects. Korean auxiliary words and conjunctive adverbs function as the connection of grammatical units, while it is conjunctions that function in Chinese. Therefore, Chinese students get confused about the use of Korean conjunctive adverbs due to the negative transfer. The comparative study of language features of Chinese and Korean is a must for Chinese learners.%韩中语言同属于汉字文化圈，在很多方面具有共同点，但也有很多不同点。韩国语中的助词、连接语尾以及接续副词共同承担着连接语法单位的作用，但在汉语中仅有连词作为连接素发挥连接功能。所以，学生在学习接续副词的过程中，由于受母语影响而造成在韩国语接续副词的使用过程中出现很多混乱和错误现象。因此，对中国学生来说，正确认识韩中语言各自的特征，对它们进行比较研究，准确区分二者的共同点和不同点，必将对他们在学习韩国语接续副词的过程中起到事半功倍的效果。

In the 21st century, human demand for new energy sources is urgent, because the traditional fossil energy is unable to meet human needs, and the fossil resource will make pollution, in this situation, solar energy gradually into the vision of scientists. As science advances, humans can already extensive use of solar energy to generate electricity. Solar energy is an inexhaustible and clean energy. In the global energy crisis, environmental pollution is the growing problem of today. The us...

Oriel Corporation's simulators have a high pressure xenon lamp whose reflected light is processed by an optical system to produce a uniform solar beam. Because of many different types of applications, the simulators must be adjustable to replicate many different areas of the solar radiation spectrum. Simulators are laboratory tools for such purposes as testing and calibrating solar cells, or other solar energy systems, testing dyes, paints and pigments, pharmaceuticals and cosmetic preparations, plant and animal studies, food and agriculture studies and oceanographic research.

On-orbit collision risk is becoming an increasing mission risk to all operational satellites in Earth orbit. Managing this risk can be disruptive to mission and operations, present challenges for decision-makers, and is time-consuming for all parties involved. With the planned capability improvements to detecting and tracking smaller orbital debris and capacity improvements to routinely predict on-orbit conjunctions, this mission risk will continue to grow in terms of likelihood and effort. It is very real possibility that the future space environment will not allow collision risk management and mission operations to be conducted in the same manner as it is today. This paper presents the concept of a finite conjunction assessment-one where each discrete conjunction is not treated separately but, rather, as a continuous event that must be managed concurrently. The paper also introduces the Total Probability of Collision as an analogous metric for finite conjunction assessment operations and provides several options for its usage in a Concept of Operations.

As a result of investigation for accessible and secure method for the biotissues conjunction, using physical facilities, the plasma and thermoflow welding was developed, efficacy of which was confirmed doing comparative analysis of data, obtained while applying the adhesive and suture methods.

The performance of a new personalized ventilation system, referred to as ductless personalized ventilation (DPV), was studied in full-scale room experiments in conjunction with displacement ventilation (DV). The idea behind DPV is to utilize clean and cool air supplied via DV. In the experiment...

The `conjunction fallacy' has been extensively debated by scholars in cognitive science and, in recent times, the discussion has been enriched by the proposal of modeling the fallacy using the quantum formalism. Two major quantum approaches have been put forward: the first assumes that respondents use a two-step sequential reasoning and that the fallacy results from the presence of `question order effects'; the second assumes that respondents evaluate the cognitive situation as a whole and that the fallacy results from the `emergence of new meanings', as an `effect of overextension' in the conceptual conjunction. Thus, the question arises as to determine whether and to what extent conjunction fallacies would result from `order effects' or, instead, from `emergence effects'. To help clarify this situation, we propose to use the World Wide Web as an `information space' that can be interrogated both in a sequential and non-sequential way, to test these two quantum approaches. We find that `emergence effects', and not `order effects', should be considered the main cognitive mechanism producing the observed conjunction fallacies.

This study introduces a mixed integer linear fractional programming (MILFP) method to optimize conjunctive use of future surface water and groundwater resources under projected climate change scenarios. The conjunctive management model maximizes the ratio of groundwater usage to reservoir water usage. Future inflows to the reservoirs were estimated from the future runoffs projected through hydroclimate modeling considering the Variable Infiltration Capacity model, and 11 sets of downscaled Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 global climate model projections. Bayesian model averaging was adopted to quantify uncertainty in future runoff projections and reservoir inflow projections due to uncertain future climate projections. Optimized conjunctive management solutions were investigated for a water supply network in northern Louisiana which includes the Sparta aquifer. Runoff projections under climate change scenarios indicate that runoff will likely decrease in winter and increase in other seasons. Results from the developed conjunctive management model with MILFP indicate that the future reservoir water, even at 2.5% low inflow cumulative probability level, could counterbalance groundwater pumping reduction to satisfy demands while improving the Sparta aquifer through conditional groundwater head constraints.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of antiallergic agents in the treatment of experimental murine ragweed conjunctivitis. SWR/J mice were divided into eight groups: 1; normal controls (unmanipulated); 2, untreated; 3, lodoxamide; 4, cromolyn; 5, livocarbastine; 6, nedocromil; 7, buffer solution (BS); and 8, tetrandine (TDR). Groups 2-8 were exposed to ragweed pollen through topical application to conjunctival and nasal mucosa, followed by conjunctival challenge with the allergen. Allergic conjunctivitis was evaluated by scoring of the clinical signs and histopathology. mRNA gene expression of interleukin 1beta (IL-1beta), IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) in conjunctiva was analyzed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction techniques. Exposed mice developed allergic conjunctivitis clinically and histologically that was modulated by topical lodoxamide, cromolyn, livocarbastine, or nedocromil eye drops or TDR intraperitoneally injected. Histopathologic analysis demonstrated that the drugs and TDR significantly reduced conjunctival eosinophil infiltration and the number of intact and degranulating mast cells. IL-1beta and TNF-alpha mRNA gene expression in conjunctiva of treated mice was inhibited compared with untreated and BS-treated controls. No IL-6 mRNA expression was observed even on the conjunctiva of the untreated mice. The antiallergic drugs and TDR exerted a similar action on the murine model of allergic conjunctivitis and demonstrated pharmacologic effectiveness on the conjunctival mRNA expression of cytokines IL-1beta and TNF-alpha.

Full Text Available Drug name recognition (DNR is a critical step for drug information extraction. Machine learning-based methods have been widely used for DNR with various types of features such as part-of-speech, word shape, and dictionary feature. Features used in current machine learning-based methods are usually singleton features which may be due to explosive features and a large number of noisy features when singleton features are combined into conjunction features. However, singleton features that can only capture one linguistic characteristic of a word are not sufficient to describe the information for DNR when multiple characteristics should be considered. In this study, we explore feature conjunction and feature selection for DNR, which have never been reported. We intuitively select 8 types of singleton features and combine them into conjunction features in two ways. Then, Chi-square, mutual information, and information gain are used to mine effective features. Experimental results show that feature conjunction and feature selection can improve the performance of the DNR system with a moderate number of features and our DNR system significantly outperforms the best system in the DDIExtraction 2013 challenge.

Drug name recognition (DNR) is a critical step for drug information extraction. Machine learning-based methods have been widely used for DNR with various types of features such as part-of-speech, word shape, and dictionary feature. Features used in current machine learning-based methods are usually singleton features which may be due to explosive features and a large number of noisy features when singleton features are combined into conjunction features. However, singleton features that can only capture one linguistic characteristic of a word are not sufficient to describe the information for DNR when multiple characteristics should be considered. In this study, we explore feature conjunction and feature selection for DNR, which have never been reported. We intuitively select 8 types of singleton features and combine them into conjunction features in two ways. Then, Chi-square, mutual information, and information gain are used to mine effective features. Experimental results show that feature conjunction and feature selection can improve the performance of the DNR system with a moderate number of features and our DNR system significantly outperforms the best system in the DDIExtraction 2013 challenge.

A 58-year-old woman presented to eye emergency with a chronic conjunctivitis which was diagnosed by laboratory microbiological testing to be due to the environmental pathogen Raoultella planticola. The organism was sensitive to Chloramphenicol and the patient made a rapid recovery on these drops. This is the first report of this organism infecting the eye.

Forecasting solar energy generation is a challenging task due to the variety of solar power systems and weather regimes encountered. Forecast inaccuracies can result in substantial economic losses and power system reliability issues. This paper presents a suite of generally applicable and value-based metrics for solar forecasting for a comprehensive set of scenarios (i.e., different time horizons, geographic locations, applications, etc.). In addition, a comprehensive framework is developed to analyze the sensitivity of the proposed metrics to three types of solar forecasting improvements using a design of experiments methodology, in conjunction with response surface and sensitivity analysis methods. The results show that the developed metrics can efficiently evaluate the quality of solar forecasts, and assess the economic and reliability impact of improved solar forecasting.

Since the emergence of the practice turn in social sciences (Golsorkhi et al. 2010), studies have shown a number of institutionally relevant aspects as achievements across time and by means of various resources (human and non-human) (Taylor & van Every 2000, Cooren et al. 2006). Such a process view...... superior-subordinate relations in a specific institutionalized setting: performance appraisal interviews (PAIs). While one main task of PAIs is to manage and integrate organizational and employee performance (Fletcher, 2001:473), PAIs are also organizational practices where superior-subordinate relations...... are shaped, (re)confirmed and re-evaluated. This paper pursues the better understanding of the latter aspect by looking at one substantial and recurrent activity in PAIs: the evaluation of employee performance. One resource for doing the evaluation work is making assessments (e.g. Goodwin & Goodwin, 1987...

Words are made of letters, and yet sometimes it is easier to identify a word than a single letter. This word superiority effect (WSE) has been observed when written stimuli are presented very briefly or degraded by visual noise. It is unclear, however, if this is due to a lower threshold...... for perception of words, or a higher speed of processing for words than letters. We have investigated the WSE using methods based on a Theory of Visual Attention. In an experiment using single stimuli (words or letters) presented centrally, we show that the classical WSE is specifically reflected in perceptual...... processing speed: words are simply processed faster than single letters. It is also clear from this experiment, that the word superiority effect can be observed at a large range of exposure durations, from the perceptual threshold to ceiling performance. Intriguingly, when multiple stimuli are presented...

We describe a novel treatment of superior oblique myokymia. A 40-year-old woman was treated with gabapentin for this disorder with partial success and reported significant side effects including loss of libido and weight gain. After a drug holiday, memantine therapy was initiated resulting in a substantial improvement in her symptoms with far fewer side effects and stability on long-term maintenance therapy.

Full Text Available Acromioclavicular (AC joint injuries account for approximately 3–5% of shoulder girdle injuries (Rockwood et al., 1998. Depending on severity of injury and direction of displacement these are classified using Rockwood classification system for AC joint dislocation. We present an unusual case presenting with locked superior dislocation of the AC joint highlighting the presentation and subsequent successful surgical management of such case. To our knowledge this has not been reported previously in literature.

Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and stent placement is now an established treatment option for chronic mesenteric ischemia and is associated with low mortality and morbidity rates. We present a case of reperfusion hemorrhage complicating endovascular repair of superior mesenteric artery stenosis. Although a recognized complication following repair of carotid stenosis, hemorrhage has not previously been reported following mesenteric endovascular reperfusion. We describe both spontaneous cessation of bleeding and treatment with coil embolization.

The superior biatrial septotomy approach consists of two semicircular right atrial and septal incisions joined at the superior end of the interatrial septum and extended across the dome of the left atrium, allowing exposure of the mitral valve by reflecting the ventricular side using stay sutures. From 1991 to 1993, 81 patients underwent mitral valve surgery by this technic. Mitral valve operation was combined with other cardiac procedures in 30 patients (37%) and was performed as a second operation in 21 patients (25.9%). Duration of cardiopulmonary bypass and aortic occlusion was not significantly different from that of patients operated via a conventional left atrial approach. The five hospital deaths (6.2%) were not related to this operative approach. Only 2 patients (3.3%) with preoperative in sinus rythm were discharged in atrial fibrillation after operation. In one patient (1.6%), atrioventricular block appeared at late follow-up. There were no cases of bleeding, atrioventricular nodal dysfunction or intra-atrial shunting related to the approach. This approach provides excellent exposure of the mitral valve even in unfavorable situations such as a small left atrium, dense adhesions from previous procedures or a previously implanted aortic prosthesis, without damage to various cardiac structures due to excessive traction. No retractor or vena cava repair are required. These data support a wide application of the superior biatrial septotomy approach in mitral valve surgery.

NASA's In-Space Propulsion Technology Program has developed the first generation of solar sail propulsion systems sufficient to accomplish inner solar system science and exploration missions. These first generation solar sails, when operational, will range in size from 40 meters to well over 100 meters in diameter and have an areal density of less than 13 grams per square meter. A rigorous, multi-year technology development effort culminated in 2005 with the testing of two different 20-m solar sail systems under thermal vacuum conditions. The first system, developed by ATK Space Systems of Goleta, California, uses rigid booms to deploy and stabilize the sail. In the second approach, L'Garde, Inc. of Tustin, California uses inflatable booms that rigidize in the coldness of space to accomplish sail deployment. This effort provided a number of significant insights into the optimal design and expected performance of solar sails as well as an understanding of the methods and costs of building and using them. In a separate effort, solar sail orbital analysis tools for mission design were developed and tested. Laboratory simulations of the effects of long-term space radiation exposure were also conducted on two candidate solar sail materials. Detailed radiation and charging environments were defined for mission trajectories outside the protection of the earth's magnetosphere, in the solar wind environment. These were used in other analytical tools to prove the adequacy of sail design features for accommodating the harsh space environment. Preceding and in conjunction with these technology efforts, NASA sponsored several mission application studies for solar sails. Potential missions include those that would be flown in the near term to study the sun and be used in space weather prediction to one that would use an evolved sail capability to support humanity's first mission into nearby interstellar space. This paper will describe the status of solar sail propulsion within

The thermal network analysis computer program MICROPAS has been used to analyze Vertical Solar Louvers and other reference solar designs in eight selected climates. The results have been used to generate a set of correlation coefficients for use in performance predictions by the Solar Load Ratio method as described in The Passive Solar Design Handbook: Volume Three (1). At low mass VSL were shown to be superior to ordinary direct gain and equal to the trombe wall systems in energy savings. The energy savings advantage of VSL over direct gain disappears in comparable systems of high mass. Identical solar water tanks of oval cross section were compared in the water wall and VSL configurations.

The solar air heater appears to be the most logical choice, as far as the ultimate application of heating air to maintain a comfortable environment is concerned. One disadvantage of solar air heaters is the need for handling larger volumes of air than liquids due to the low density of air as a working substance. Another disadvantage is the low thermal capacity of air. In cases where thermal storage is needed, water is superior to air. Design variations of solar air heaters are discussed along with the calculation of the efficiency of a flat plate solar air heater, the performance of various collector types, and the applications of solar air heaters. Attention is given to collectors with nonporous absorber plates, collectors with porous absorbers, the performance of flat plate collectors with finned absorbers, a wire mesh absorber, and an overlapped glass plate air heater.

In the "Solar Sprint" activity, students design, test, and race a solar-powered car built with Legos. The use of ratios is incorporated to simulate the actual work of scientists and engineers. This method encourages fourth-grade students to think about multiple variables and stimulates their curiosity when an activity doesn't come out as…

Background: Allergic conjunctivitis is commonly observed eye diseases in Sikkim, India due to the abundance of seasonal pollens, environmental pollutants, and house dust. We evaluated the efficacy of topical 0.03% tacrolimus eye ointment in the management of simple allergic conjunctivitis. Materials and Methods: A prospective observational study was designed consisting of 41 patients with refractory simple allergic conjunctivitis, whose condition responded very poorly to conventional anti-all...

Full Text Available Wolfgang Haas1, Lynne S Gearinger1, Dale W Usner2, Heleen H DeCory3, Timothy W Morris11Microbiology and Sterilization Sciences, 2Clinical Affairs, 3Global Pharmaceutical Medical Affairs, Bausch and Lomb Inc, Rochester, NY, USABackground: The purpose of this paper is to report on the bacterial species isolated from patients with bacterial conjunctivitis participating in three clinical trials of besifloxacin ophthalmic suspension, 0.6%, and their in vitro antibacterial susceptibility profiles.Methods: Microbial data from three clinical studies, conducted at multiple clinical sites in the US and Asia were integrated. Species were identified at a central laboratory, and minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined for various antibiotics, including β-lactams, fluoroquinolones, and macrolides.Results: A total of 1324 bacterial pathogens representing more than 70 species were isolated. The most common species were Haemophilus influenzae (26.0%, Streptococcus pneumoniae (22.8%, Staphylococcus aureus (14.4%, and Staphylococcus epidermidis (8.4%. H. influenzae was most frequently isolated among patients aged 1–18 years, while S. aureus was most prevalent among those >65 years. Drug resistance was prevalent: Of H. influenzae isolates, 25.3% were β-lactamase positive and 27.2% of S. pneumoniae isolates were penicillin-intermediate/resistant; of S. aureus isolates, 13.7% were methicillin-resistant (MRSA, and of these, 65.4% were ciprofloxacin-resistant, while 45.9% of S. epidermidis isolates were methicillin-resistant (MRSE, and, of these, 47.1% were ciprofloxacin-resistant. Besifloxacin was more potent than comparator fluoroquinolones overall, and particularly against Gram-positive bacteria. Against ciprofloxacin-resistant MRSA and MRSE, besifloxacin was four-fold to ≥ 128-fold more potent than other fluoroquinolones.Conclusions: While the pathogen distribution in bacterial conjunctivitis has not changed, drug resistance is increasing. Patient

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) also known as Gratzel cells, have attracted the interests of researchers to a great extent because of its cost effective and easy manufacturing process without involving highly sophisticated lithographic technique and high cost raw materials as usually seen in conventional solar cell. Based on simple photo-electrochemical process, it has got immense potential in converting solar energy to electrical power in remote and desert area where the supply of conventional power is not possible. The overall peak power-production efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells has been reported around 11 percent, so they are best suited to low-density applications and the price-to-performance ratio obtained through these solar cells is superior to others. DSSCs have ability to absorb even diffused sunlight and therefore work in cloudy whether as well without much impact over the efficiency. The present communication deals with a review of our work on DSSCs wherein we have used cost effective natural dyes/pigments as a sensitizer of nc-TiO2 and discussed about various key factors affecting the conversion efficiency of DSSC.

Reacting to potential on-orbit collision risk in an operational environment requires timely and accurate communication and exchange of data, information, and analysis to ensure informed decision-making for safety of flight and responsible use of the shared space environment. To accomplish this mission, it is imperative that all stakeholders effectively manage resources: devoting necessary and potentially intensive resource commitment to responding to high-risk conjunction events and preventing unnecessary expenditure of resources on events of low collision risk. After 10 years of operational experience, the NASA Robotic Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis (CARA) is modifying its Concept of Operations (CONOPS) to ensure this alignment of collision risk and resource management. This evolution manifests itself in the approach to characterizing, reporting, and refining of collision risk. Implementation of this updated CONOPS is expected to have a demonstrated improvement on the efficacy of JSpOC, CARA, and owner/operator resources.

Full Text Available Conjunctive management of water resources involves coordinating use of surface water and groundwater resources. Very few simulation/optimization (S-O models for stream-aquifer system management have included detailed interactions between groundwater, streams, and reservoir storage. This paper presents an S-O model doing that via artificial neural network simulators and genetic algorithm optimizer for multiobjective conjunctive water use problems. The model simultaneously addresses all significant flows including reservoir-stream-diversion-aquifer interactions in a more detailed manner than previous models. The model simultaneously maximizes total water provided and hydropower production. A penalty function implicitly poses constraints on state variables. The model effectively finds feasible optimal solutions and the Pareto optimum. Illustrated is application for planning water resource and minihydropower system development.

Full Text Available Jeremy B Wingard, Francis S MahUPMC Eye Center, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USAAbstract: Bepotastine besilate 1.5% solution is an H1-antihistamine recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the topical treatment of ocular itching associated with allergic conjunctivitis. Several clinical studies have demonstrated its safety as well as its efficacy versus placebo. This review finds that bepotastine besilate 1.5% solution is a suitable alternative to other agents within the class of H1-antihistamines, but there are no clinical trial data to suggest that it holds any specific advantages over other agents.Keywords: allergic conjunctivitis, antihistamine, ocular itching

This book introduces readers to the application of orbital data on space objects in the contexts of conjunction assessment and space situation analysis, including theories and methodologies. It addresses the main topics involved in space object conjunction assessment, such as: orbital error analysis of space objects; close approach analysis; the calculation, analysis and application of collision probability; and the comprehensive assessment of collision risk. In addition, selected topics on space situation analysis are also presented, including orbital anomaly and space event analysis, and so on. The book offers a valuable guide for researchers and engineers in the fields of astrodynamics, space telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C), space surveillance, space situational awareness, and space debris, as well as for graduates majoring in flight vehicle design and related fields.

TiO2 nanostructures are being sought after as flexibly utilizable building blocks for the fabrication of the mesoporous thin-film photoelectrodes that are the heart of the third-generation photovoltaic devices, such as dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs), and the recently promoted perovskite-type solar cells. Here, we report deliberate tailoring of TiO2 nanostructures for superior photovoltaic cells. Morphology engineering of TiO2 nanostructures is realized by designing synthetic protocols in which the precursor hydrolysis, crystal growth, and oligomer self-organization are precisely controlled. TiO2 nanostructures in forms varying from isolated nanocubes, nanorods, and cross-linked nanorods to complex hierarchical structures and shape-defined mesoporous micro-/nanostructures were successfully synthesized. The photoanodes made from the shape-defined mesoporous TiO2 microspheres and nanospindles presented superior performances, owing to the well-defined overall shapes and the inner ordered nanochannels, which allow not only a high amount of dye uptake, but also improved visible-light absorption. This study provides a new way to seek an optimal synthetic protocol to meet the required functionality of the nanomaterials.

Words are made of letters, and yet sometimes it is easier to identify a word than a single letter. This word superiority effect (WSE) has been observed when written stimuli are presented very briefly or degraded by visual noise. It is unclear, however, if this is due to a lower threshold for perc...... simultaneously we find a different pattern: In a whole report experiment with six stimuli (letters or words), letters are perceived more easily than words, and this is reflected both in perceptual processing speed and short term memory capacity....

An epidemic of acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis affecting persons of all ages and both sexes occurred in Delhi and surrounding areas during the monsoon season of 1994. The symptoms lasted on an average for 4-5 days. In some of the patients corneal involvement was observed. Conjunctival swabs from the affected patients were processed for viral antigen detection, virus isolation and bacterial culture and sensitivity. Viral antigen was detected in 62% (31/50) of the smears tested by indi...

Full Text Available We report a 25-year-old systemically healthy male who presented with periocular necrotizing fasciitis (NF in the left eyelid. This was associated with the presence of immunologically mediated marginal kerato-conjunctivitis, in the same eye. This potentially dangerous lid infection and the associated ocular surface infection resolved successfully, with medical management. We report this case to highlight the successful conservative management of periocular NF and the hitherto unreported anterior segment involvement.

Full Text Available AIM: To investigate clinical efficacy of loratadine and diclofenac sodium eye drops for allergic conjunctivitis and to improve the outcomes of patients with allergic conjunctivitis.METHODS: The selected 154 patients(158 eyeswith allergic conjunctivitis were randomly divided into control group and observation group, 77 patients(79 eyes in each group. Patients in control group were treated with loratadine. Patients in observation group were treated with diclofenac sodium eye drops besides loratadine. Scores on symptoms and physical signs of two groups were compared and clinical efficacy of two group was evaluated and compared. RESULTS: Before treatments, the scores on symptoms and physical signs of two groups were not significantly different(P>0.05. After treatments,the scores of observation group on eye itching, tearing, photophobia, burning sensation and foreign body sensation were respectively 1.03±0.10, 0.83±0.10, 0.62±0.06, 0.80±0.05 and 1.10±0.09score. The scores on conjunctival congestion and edema, secretions, nipple-like follicular on palpebral conjunctiva, limbus change, corneal epithelial changes as well as eyelid and periocular edema of observation group were respectively 0.95±0.08,0.63±0.05,1.32±0.13,0.67±0.06,0.72±0.06, 0.55±0.04score.All the aspects mentioned above were lower in observation group than in control group and the differences were statistically significant(PPCONCLUSION: Systemic treatment of loratadine combined with local treatment of diclofenac sodium eye drops for allergic conjunctivitis can relieve the clinical signs and symptoms better, make the treatment more effective with easy drug administration, which is an effective treatment.

Full Text Available The crisp organization of the firing bumps of entorhinal grid cells and conjunctive cells leads to the notion that the entorhinal cortex may compute linear navigation routes. Specifically, we propose a process, termed linear look-ahead, by which a stationary animal could compute a series of locations in the direction it is facing. We speculate that this computation could be achieved through learned patterns of connection strengths among entorhinal neurons. This paper has three sections. First, we describe the minimal grid cell properties that will be built into our network. Specifically, the network relies of rigid modules of neurons, where all members have identical grid scale and orientation, but differ in spatial phase. Additionally, these neurons must be densely interconnected with synapses that are modifiable early in the animal’s life. Second, we investigate whether plasticity during short bouts of locomotion could induce patterns of connections amongst grid cells or conjunctive cells. Finally, we run a simulation to test whether the learned connection patterns can exhibit linear look-ahead. Our results are straightforward. A simulated 30-minute walk produces weak strengthening of synapses between grid cells that do not support linear look-ahead. Similar training in a conjunctive-cell module produces a small subset of very strong connections between cells. These strong pairs have three properties: The pre- and post-synaptic cells have similar heading direction. The cell pairs have neighboring grid bumps. Finally, the spatial offset of firing bumps of the cell pair is in the direction of the common heading preference. Such a module can produce strong and accurate linear look ahead starting in any location and extending in any direction. We speculate that this process may: 1. compute linear paths to goals; 2. update grid cell firing during navigation; and 3. stabilize the rigid modules of grid cells and conjunctive cells.

The maxillary sinus grafting procedure has proven to be an acceptable modality for bone augmentation to provide a base for endosseous implants, routinely used for the rehabilitation of posterior maxilla. Perforation of the membrane is the most common complication in this type of procedure. This paper presents a technique for repairing a perforated Schneiderian membrane with a conjunctive connective tissue graft harvested from the palate and shows the histological and radiographic evaluation o...

Full Text Available Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP has been a major problematic disorder during childhood. Laser photocoagulation (LPC has been proven to be effective in most of the ROP cases. Adenoviral conjunctivitis (AVC is responsible for epidemics among adult and pediatric population. It has also been reported to be a cause of outbreaks in neonatal intensive care units (NICU several times. We herein demonstrate a case with AVC who underwent LPC for ROP. And we discuss the treatment methodology in such cases.

Potential climate change effects on aspects of conjunctive management of water resources can be evaluated by linking climate models with fully integrated groundwater-surface water models. The objective of this study is to develop a modeling system that links global climate models with regional hydrologic models, using the California Central Valley as a case study. The new method is a supply and demand modeling framework that can be used to simulate and analyze potential climate change and conjunctive use. Supply-constrained and demand-driven linkages in the water system in the Central Valley are represented with the linked climate models, precipitation-runoff models, agricultural and native vegetation water use, and hydrologic flow models to demonstrate the feasibility of this method. Simulated precipitation and temperature were used from the GFDL-A2 climate change scenario through the 21st century to drive a regional water balance mountain hydrologic watershed model (MHWM) for the surrounding watersheds in combination with a regional integrated hydrologic model of the Central Valley (CVHM). Application of this method demonstrates the potential transition from predominantly surface water to groundwater supply for agriculture with secondary effects that may limit this transition of conjunctive use. The particular scenario considered includes intermittent climatic droughts in the first half of the 21st century followed by severe persistent droughts in the second half of the 21st century. These climatic droughts do not yield a valley-wide operational drought but do cause reduced surface water deliveries and increased groundwater abstractions that may cause additional land subsidence, reduced water for riparian habitat, or changes in flows at the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The method developed here can be used to explore conjunctive use adaptation options and hydrologic risk assessments in regional hydrologic systems throughout the world.

As we prepare for the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009), we should be on the lookout for celestial events which we can use not only to popularise the IYA2009 and practise our outreach skills, but which also have natural connections to popular culture. The Venus-Jupiter conjunction this autumn is such an opportunity, given several direct connections to the use of astronomy in J. K. Rowling's famous Harry Potter universe.

In papers [1,2] introduced me parameter - the average difference between the heliocentric longitudes of planets ( ADL ) , which was used for comparison with solar activity. The best connection of solar activity ( Wolf numbers used ) was obtained for the three planets - Venus, Earth and Jupiter. In [1,2] has been allocated envelope curve of the minimum values ADL which has a main periodicity for 22 years and describes well the alternating series of solar activity , which also has a major periodicity of 22. It was shown that the minimum values of the envelope curve extremes ADL planets Venus, Earth and Jupiter are well matched with the 11- year solar activity cycle In these extremes observed linear configuration of the planets Venus, Earth and Jupiter both in their location on one side of the Sun ( conjunctions ) and at the location on the opposite side of the Sun ( three configurations ) This work is a continuation of the above-mentioned , and here for minimum ADL ( planets are in conjunction ) , as well as on the minimum deviation of the planets from a line drawn through them and Sun at the location of the planets on opposite sides of the Sun , compiled index (denoted for brevity as JEV ) that uniquely describes the 11- year solar cycle A comparison of the index JEV with solar activity during the time interval from 1000 to 2013 conducted. For the period from 1000 to 1699 used the Schove series of solar activity and the number of Wolf (1700 - 2013 ) During the time interval from 1000 to 2013 and the main periodicity of the solar activity and the index ADL is 11.07 years. 1. Okhlopkov V.P. Cycles of Solar Activity and the Configurations of Planets // Moscow University Physics Bulletin, 2012 , Vol. 67 , No. 4 , pp. 377-383 http://www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.3103/S0027134912040108. 2 Okhlopkov VP, Relationship of Solar Activity Cycles to Planetary Configurations // Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Physics, 2013 , Vol. 77 , No. 5

Earlier this year the NASA Conjunction Assessment and Risk Analysis (CARA) project presented the theoretical and algorithmic aspects of a method to include the uncertainties in the calculation inputs when computing the probability of collision (Pc) between two space objects, principally uncertainties in the covariances and the hardbody radius. The output of this calculation approach is to produce rather than a single Pc value an entire probability density function that will represent the range of possible Pc values given the uncertainties in the inputs and bring CA risk analysis methodologies more in line with modern risk management theory. The present study provides results from the exercise of this method against an extended dataset of satellite conjunctions in order to determine the effect of its use on the evaluation of conjunction assessment (CA) event risk posture. The effects are found to be considerable: a good number of events are downgraded from or upgraded to a serious risk designation on the basis of consideration of the Pc uncertainty. The findings counsel the integration of the developed methods into NASA CA operations.

Full Text Available Background. Conjunctivitis is one of the most frequently occurring hospital-acquired infections among neonates, although it is less studied than potentially life-threatening infections, such as sepsis and pneumonia. Objectives. The aims of our work were to identify epidemiologic characteristics, pathogens, and susceptibility patterns of bacterial hospital-acquired conjunctivitis (HAC in a level III neonatal unit. Materials and Methods. Data were collected retrospectively from patient charts and laboratory databases. Hospital-acquired conjunctivitis was defined in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control/National Healthcare Safety Network (CDC/NHSN diagnostic criteria. Results. One or more episodes of HAC were diagnosed in 4,0% ( of 1492 neonates admitted during the study period. Most of the episodes involved premature (75,4% and low birth weight (75,4% neonates. Infection rates were higher among patients undergoing noninvasive mechanical ventilation (46,7%, parenteral nutrition (13,6%, and phototherapy (6,8%. Predominant pathogens included Serratia marcescens (27,9%, Escherichia coli (23%, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18%. Susceptibility patterns revealed bacterial resistances to several antibiotic classes. Gentamicin remains the adequate choice for empirical treatment of HAC in our NICU. Conclusion. It is important to know the local patterns of the disease in order to adjust prevention strategies. Our work contributes to the epidemiological characterization of a sometimes overlooked disease.

Classic risk management theory requires the assessment of both likelihood and consequence of deleterious events. Satellite conjunction risk assessment has produced a highly-developed theory for assessing collision likelihood but holds a completely static solution for collision consequence, treating all potential collisions as essentially equally worrisome. This may be true for the survival of the protected asset, but the amount of debris produced by the potential collision, and therefore the degree to which the orbital corridor may be compromised, can vary greatly among satellite conjunctions. This study leverages present work on satellite collision modeling to develop a method by which it can be estimated, to a particular confidence level, whether a particular collision is likely to produce a relatively large or relatively small amount of resultant debris and how this datum might alter conjunction remediation decisions. The more general question of orbital corridor protection is also addressed, and a preliminary framework presented by which both collision likelihood and consequence can be jointly considered in the risk assessment process.

Background. Conjunctivitis is one of the most frequently occurring hospital-acquired infections among neonates, although it is less studied than potentially life-threatening infections, such as sepsis and pneumonia. Objectives. The aims of our work were to identify epidemiologic characteristics, pathogens, and susceptibility patterns of bacterial hospital-acquired conjunctivitis (HAC) in a level III neonatal unit. Materials and Methods. Data were collected retrospectively from patient charts and laboratory databases. Hospital-acquired conjunctivitis was defined in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control/National Healthcare Safety Network (CDC/NHSN) diagnostic criteria. Results. One or more episodes of HAC were diagnosed in 4,0% (n = 60) of 1492 neonates admitted during the study period. Most of the episodes involved premature (75,4%) and low birth weight (75,4%) neonates. Infection rates were higher among patients undergoing noninvasive mechanical ventilation (46,7%), parenteral nutrition (13,6%), and phototherapy (6,8%). Predominant pathogens included Serratia marcescens (27,9%), Escherichia coli (23%), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18%). Susceptibility patterns revealed bacterial resistances to several antibiotic classes. Gentamicin remains the adequate choice for empirical treatment of HAC in our NICU. Conclusion. It is important to know the local patterns of the disease in order to adjust prevention strategies. Our work contributes to the epidemiological characterization of a sometimes overlooked disease. PMID:23766676

An innovative and visually appealing tool is presented for efficient all-vs-all conjunction analysis on a large catalogue of objects. The conjunction detection uses a nearest neighbour search algorithm, based on spatial binning and identification of pairs of objects in adjacent bins. This results in the fastest all vs all filtering the authors are aware of. The tool is constructed on a server-client architecture, where the server broadcasts to the client the conjunction data and ephemerides, while the client supports the user interface through a modern browser, without plug-in. In order to make the tool flexible and maintainable, Java software technologies were used on the server side, including Spring, Camel, ActiveMQ and CometD. The user interface and visualisation are based on the latest web technologies: HTML5, WebGL, THREE.js. Importance has been given on the ergonomics and visual appeal of the software. In fact certain design concepts have been borrowed from the gaming industry.

An understanding of how an initially Gaussian error volume becomes non-Gaussian over time is an important consideration for space-vehicle conjunction assessment. Traditional assumptions applied to the error volume artificially suppress the true non-Gaussian nature of the space-vehicle position uncertainties. For typical conjunction assessment objects, representation of the error volume by a state error covariance matrix in a Cartesian reference frame is a more significant limitation than is the assumption of linearized dynamics for propagating the error volume. In this study, the impact of each assumption is examined and isolated for each point in the volume. Limitations arising from representing the error volume in a Cartesian reference frame is corrected by employing a Monte Carlo approach to probability of collision (Pc), using equinoctial samples from the Cartesian position covariance at the time of closest approach (TCA) between the pair of space objects. A set of actual, higher risk (Pc >= 10 (exp -4)+) conjunction events in various low-Earth orbits using Monte Carlo methods are analyzed. The impact of non-Gaussian error volumes on Pc for these cases is minimal, even when the deviation from a Gaussian distribution is significant.

This paper will describe the results that have been obtained to date during the MMS mission concerning conjunction assessment. MMS navigation makes use of a weak-signal GPS-based system: this allows signals to be received even when MMS is flying above the GPS orbits, producing a highly accurate determination of the four MMS orbits. This data is downlinked to the MMS Mission Operations Center (MOC) and used by the Flight Dynamics Operations Area (FDOA) for both maneuver design and conjunction assessment. The MMS fly in tetrahedron formations around apogee, in order to collect simultaneous particles and fields science data. The original plan was to fly tetrahedra between 10 and 160 km in size; however, after Phase 1a of the mission, the science team requested that smaller sizes be flown if feasible. After analysis (to be detailed in a companion paper), a new minimum size of 7 km was decided upon. Flying at this reduced scale size makes conjunction assessment between the MMS spacecraft even more important: the methods that are used by the MMS FDOA to address this problem will be described in the paper, and a summary given of the previous analyses that went into the development of these techniques. Details will also be given of operational experiences to date. Finally, two CA mitigation maneuver types that have been designed (but never yet required to actually be performed) will also be outlined.

Full Text Available We investigate particle and fields data during a conjunction of the Polar and Cluster spacecraft. This conjunction occurs near the dayside cusp boundary layer when a dayside inverted-V was observed in the particle data of both satellites. Electron, ion, electric field, and magnetic field data from each satellite confirm that the dayside inverted-V (DSIV structure is present at the location of both satellites and the electric fields persist from the altitude of the Polar (lower spacecraft to the altitude of the Cluster spacecraft. We observe accelerated, precipitating electrons and upward ions along the magnetic field. In addition, large amplitude electric fields perpendicular to the ambient magnetic field seen by Polar and by Cluster suggest significant parallel electric fields associated with these events. For similar DSIV events observed by the Polar spacecraft, plasma waves (identified as possible Alfvén waves have been observed to propagate in both directions along the magnetic field line. Future conjunctions will be necessary to confirm that DSIVs are associated with reconnection sites.

This study aimed to compare the virology and epidemiology of epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (EKC), pharyngoconjunctival fever (PCF) and acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis (AHC) outbreaks worldwide caused by the human adenovirus (HAdV) from 1953 to 2013. Eighty-three hexon sequences from 76 conjunctivitis outbreaks were analysed and subtyped using Mega 5.05, Clustal X and SimPlot software. Epidemiology was performed for the area, age and seasonal distribution. A phylogenetic analysis indicated that all the isolates could be divided into three subgenetic lineages, without a common ancestor. The major causes of the outbreaks were Ad8, Ad7 and Ad2 co-infection with enterovirus 70 (EV70) in EKC, PCF and AHC, respectively. The epidemiological findings suggested that EKC and AHC were circulating predominantly in Asia during the early winter and spring, whereas PCF was circulating mainly in China, Australia and the United States during the summer. This study suggests that EKC, AHC and PCF outbreaks have different circulating patterns throughout the world and are caused by different adenovirus serotypes. A global surveillance system should be established to monitor conjunctivitis outbreaks in the future.

Previous research suggests that when two streams of pitched tones are presented simultaneously, adults process each stream in a separate memory trace, as reflected by mismatch negativity (MMN), a component of the event-related potential (ERP). Furthermore, a superior encoding of the higher tone or voice in polyphonic sounds has been found for 7-month-old infants and both musician and non-musician adults in terms of a larger amplitude MMN in response to pitch deviant stimuli in the higher than the lower voice. These results, in conjunction with modeling work, suggest that the high voice superiority effect might originate in characteristics of the peripheral auditory system. If this is the case, the high voice superiority effect should be present in infants younger than 7 months. In the present study we tested 3-month-old infants as there is no evidence at this age of perceptual narrowing or specialization of musical processing according to the pitch or rhythmic structure of music experienced in the infant׳s environment. We presented two simultaneous streams of tones (high and low) with 50% of trials modified by 1 semitone (up or down), either on the higher or the lower tone, leaving 50% standard trials. Results indicate that like the 7-month-olds, 3-month-old infants process each tone in a separate memory trace and show greater saliency for the higher tone. Although MMN was smaller and later in both voices for the group of sixteen 3-month-olds compared to the group of sixteen 7-month-olds, the size of the difference in MMN for the high compared to low voice was similar across ages. These results support the hypothesis of an innate peripheral origin of the high voice superiority effect.

Integration of solar renewable energy into the power grid, like wind energy, is hindered by the variable nature of the solar resource. One challenge of the integration problem for shorter time periods is the phenomenon of "ramping events" where the electrical output of the solar power system increases or decreases significantly and rapidly over periods of minutes or less. Advance warning, of even just a few minutes, allows power system operators to compensate for the ramping. However, the ability for short-term prediction on such local "point" scales is beyond the abilities of typical model-based weather forecasting. Use of surface-based solar radiation measurements has been recognized as a likely solution for providing input for near-term (5 to 30 minute) forecasts of solar energy availability and variability. However, it must be noted that while fixed-orientation photovoltaic panel systems use the total (global) downwelling solar radiation, tracking photovoltaic and solar concentrator systems use only the direct normal component of the solar radiation. Thus even accurate near-term forecasts of total solar radiation will under many circumstances include inherent inaccuracies with respect to tracking systems due to lack of information of the direct component of the solar radiation. We will present examples and statistical analyses of solar radiation partitioning showing the differences in the behavior of the total/direct radiation with respect to the near-term forecast issue. We will present an overview of the possibility of using a network of unique new commercially available total/diffuse radiometers in conjunction with a near-real-time adaptation of the Shortwave Radiative Flux Analysis methodology (Long and Ackerman, 2000; Long et al., 2006). The results are used, in conjunction with persistence and tendency forecast techniques, to provide more accurate near-term forecasts of cloudiness, and both total and direct normal solar irradiance availability and

Full Text Available Organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells (PSCs have emerged as a new class of optoelectronic semiconductors that revolutionized the photovoltaic research in the recent years. The perovskite solar cells present numerous advantages include unique electronic structure, bandgap tunability, superior charge transport properties, facile processing, and low cost. Perovskite solar cells have demonstrated unprecedented progress in efficiency and its architecture evolved over the period of the last 5–6 years, achieving a high power conversion efficiency of about 22% in 2016, serving as a promising candidate with the potential to replace the existing commercial PV technologies. This review discusses the progress of perovskite solar cells focusing on aspects such as superior electronic properties and unique features of halide perovskite materials compared to that of conventional light absorbing semiconductors. The review also presents a brief overview of device architectures, fabrication methods, and interface engineering of perovskite solar cells. The last part of the review elaborates on the major challenges such as hysteresis and stability issues in perovskite solar cells that serve as a bottleneck for successful commercialization of this promising PV technology.

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma remains the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death and is one of the most aggressive human tumors. At present, surgical resection is the only potentially curative treatment. Early neck division is inadequate when invasion of the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) is suspected or in cases of replaced or accessory right hepatic artery. Malignant periampullary tumors often invade retroperitoneal peripancreatic tissues and a positive resection margin is associated with a poor long-term survival. DATA SOURCES: English-language medical databases, PubMed, ELSEVIER and SPRINGERLINK, were searched for articles on"posterior approach pancreaticoduodenectomy","superior mesenteric artery ifrst approach", "retroperitoneal tissue","hanging maneuver", and related topics. RESULTS:The modiifcation allowed the surgeon to early identify the nonresectability of a replaced right hepatic artery if present, enabling complete dissection of the right side of the SMA and portal vein as well as complete excision of the retroportal pancreatic lamina. CONCLUSION: Pancreaticoduodenectomy with early retro-pancreatic dissection is a useful and safe technical variant, which is indicated for the improvement of the safety and curative effect of the procedure.

The survival of patients with superior sulcus lung carcinoma and the effects of treatment were reviewed. From a prospective database of 4123 consecutive new patients with lung carcinoma, 131 (3.2%) cases of superior sulcus lung carcinoma were identified. Seventy-four patients were planned to receive radiation with palliative intent, 53 radical radiotherapy and one was observed only. The remaining three patients, with small-cell carcinoma, were treated with chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy. Of the 53 radically treated patients, nine were treated with pre-operative radiation prior to intended radical resection. Analysis was carried out on the effect on survival of performance status, nodal involvement, weight loss, vertebral body or rib involvement, treatment intent and radical combined modality treatment compared with radical radiation alone. The estimated median survival for the whole group was 7.6 months; for those treated radically it was 18.3 months, while for the palliatively treated patients it was 3.7 months. Radically treated patients with no initial nodal involvement had an estimated median survival of 22 months, while radically treated patients with nodal involvement had an estimated median survival of 8.4 months (P = 0.003). There were no statistically significant differences in survival between radically treated patients grouped according to initial weight loss, performance status, or vertebral body and rib involvement. Patients treated with pre-operative radiation did not survive significantly longer than patients treated with radiation alone, although the numbers are small. 33 refs., 2 tabs., 4 figs.

Full Text Available We report here the results of a three year study on the zooplankton of Lago Paione Superiore, an acid sensitive lake above the tree line in the Italian Alps. The research was carried out within MOLAR, an EC-founded Project on “Measuring and Modeling the dynamic response of remote mountain lakes ecosystems to environmental change”. This study comes after a series of investigations on the effects of acidification, in which we documented the changes occurred with decreasing water pHs, by comparing the recent situation with that in the literature of the 40s, and reconstructed the beginning of anthropogenic disturbance through an analysis of the past cladocera assemblages archived in the lake sediments. A characteristic pattern in seasonal periodicity is a transition from a community dominated by small zooplankton (August to a community where the large particle-feeder Daphnia longispina dominates. This is a typical pattern observed in fishless, copepod-cladocera lakes. Regardless from which food is able to exploit, Daphnia population of Lago Paione Superiore is composed by well-fed organisms, visually rich in lipids, able to produce more than one generation/ year of parthenogenetic females at density levels which are rather high in an oligotrophic high mountain lake.

This volume presents the latest research results on solar prominences, including new developments on e.g. chirality, fine structure, magnetism, diagnostic tools and relevant solar plasma physics. In 1875 solar prominences, as seen out of the solar limb, were described by P.A. Secchi in his book Le Soleil as "gigantic pink or peach-flower coloured flames". The development of spectroscopy, coronagraphy and polarimetry brought tremendous observational advances in the twentieth century. The authors present and discuss exciting new challenges (resulting from observations made by space and ground-based telescopes in the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century) concerning the diagnostics of prominences, their formation, their life time and their eruption along with their impact in the heliosphere (including the Earth). The book starts with a general introduction of the prominence “object” with some historical background on observations and instrumentation. In the next chapter, the various forms of promine...

The design team for the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) has pushed the state of the energy art to its current limits for the initial phase, with provisions for foreseeable and even speculative future applications. (Author/MLF)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Scientists monitor the structure of the solar corona, the outer most regions of the Sun's atmosphere, using radio waves (100?s of MHz to 10?s of GHz). Variations in...

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 7 male graduate students who were required to push a button in response to a given conjunction of spatial frequency and orientation (target) and to ignore conjunctions sharing with the target only frequency (frequency-relevant), only orientation (or

Conclusion: Cromolyn 2 % ophthalmic solution was effective and safe to treat allergic conjunctivitis. A short-term use of cromolyn 2 % ophthalmic solution with 0.01% BAK would not cause any significant toxicity in patients with allergic conjunctivitis. Preservative-free cromolyn may be beneficial to the compromised eyes or eyes required of long-term medication.

... 21 Food and Drugs 6 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Natural substances used in conjunction with spices... with spices and other natural seasonings and flavorings. Natural substances used in conjunction with spices and other natural seasonings and flavorings that are generally recognized as safe for...

We present multi-spacecraft observations of four solar electron events using measurements from the Solar Electron Proton Telescope (SEPT) and the Electron Proton Helium INstrument (EPHIN) on board the STEREO and SOHO spacecraft, respectively, occurring between 11 October 2013 and 1 August 2014, during the approaching superiorconjunction period of the two STEREO spacecraft. At this time the longitudinal separation angle between STEREO-A (STA) and STEREO-B (STB) was less than 72°. The parent particle sources (flares) of the four investigated events were situated close to, in between, or to the west of the STEREO's magnetic footpoints. The STEREO measurements revealed a strong difference in electron peak intensities (factor ≤12) showing unexpected intensity distributions at 1 AU, although the two spacecraft had nominally nearly the same angular magnetic footpoint separation from the flaring active region (AR) or their magnetic footpoints were both situated eastwards from the parent particle source. Furthermore, the events detected by the two STEREO imply a strongly unexpected onset timing with respect to each other: the spacecraft magnetically best connected to the flare detected a later arrival of electrons than the other one. This leads us to suggest the concept of a rippled peak intensity distribution at 1 AU formed by narrow peaks (fingers) superposed on a quasi-uniform Gaussian distribution. Additionally, two of the four investigated solar energetic particle (SEP) events show a so-called circumsolar distribution and their characteristics make it plausible to suggest a two-component particle injection scenario forming an unusual, non-uniform intensity distribution at 1 AU.

The scope and advantages of solar energy are dealt with. The nature of the sun, the solar radiation spectrum, the estimation of total, direct, and diffuse radiation, and the heat transfer fundamentals for solar energy application are explained. The fundamentals, fabrication, and uses of various water and air heaters are outlined. Optics and concentrating collectors are dealt with, as well as solar furnaces. The various applications of solar energy are discussed, namely, solar pond, solar distillation, photovoltaic conversion of solar energy, solar refrigeration, solar hydrogen production, space applications, and solar measuring equipment. The cost of solar appliances is discussed. (MHR)

Objective The superior transvelar approach is used to access pathologies located in the fourth ventricle and brainstem. The surgical path is below the venous structures, through the superior medullary velum. Following splitting the tentorial edge, near the tentorial apex, the superior medullary velum is split in the cerebello-mesencephalic fissure. Using the supracerebellar infratentorial, transtentorial or parietal interhemispheric routes, the superior medullary velum is approached. Splittin...

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance (SID) is any of several radio propagation anomalies due to ionospheric changes resulting from solar or geophysical events.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The H-alpha Flare Patrol identifies time periods each day when the sun is being continuously monitored by select ground-based solar observatories.

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Exercise of authority by superiors. 385.7... Exercise of authority by superiors. Any assignment of authority to a staff member other than the Chief... Department's principle of management responsibility, the superior may choose to exercise the assigned power...

The market share between China Mobile and China Unicom has stabilized since 2002.It is found that China Mobile has the superiority in the competition, for example, the scissors movement between its revenue and cost indicates that it has a strong profit generating ability and there is enough room for it to reduce the price.The ratio between its price (marginal income) and marginal cost indicates that there is a very distant limit for it to reduce the price.Its demand is obviously flexible with the price, but it does not use the price weapon abundantly.The reason for the stabilization of the market is that China Mobile withdrew from the competition.

Objective:To assess MRI in the evaluation of enlarged superior ophthalmic vein (SOV). Methods: MRI manifestations and etiology of forty-six patients with enlarged SOV were analyzed. Results: SOV enlargement was noted to occur in carotid-cavernous fistula, ophthalmic Graves'disease, Tolosa-Hunt syndrome, inflammation at the apex of the orbit, orbital pseudotumor and thrombosis of cavernous sinus. The dilated vein appeared as signal void tubular shadows on both T1 and T2 weighted images. The diameter of the enlarged vein was 3.5-6.0 mm. Extraocular muscle enlargement, orbital pathologies, enlarged carotid cavernous sinus etc were also revealed by MRI. Conclusion: The dilated SOV may be well demonstrated by MRI. The etiological diagnosis of enlarged SOV can be made in combination with the associated findings.

On 4 July 1999, a severe convective windstorm, known as a derecho, caused extensive damage to forested regions along the United States/Canada border, west of Lake Superior. There were 665,000 acres of forest destroyed in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in Minnesota and Quetico Provincial Park in Canada, with approximately 12.5 million trees blown down. This storm resulted in additional severe weather before and after the occurrence of the derecho, with continuous cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning occurring for more than 34 hours during its path across North America. At the time of the derecho the percentage of positive cloud-to-ground (+CG) lightning measured by the Canadian Lightning Detection Network (CLDN) was greater than 70% for more than three hours, with peak values reaching 97% positive CG lightning. Such high ratios of +CG are rare, and may be useful indicators of severe weather.

Full Text Available Obstruction of blood flow in the superior vena cava (SVC results in symptoms and signs of SVC syndrome. SVC obstruction can be caused either by invasion or external compression of the SVC by contagious pathologic processes involving the right lung, lymph nodes, and other mediastinal structures, or by thrombosis of blood within the SVC. Occasionally, both mechanisms co-exist. We hereby report a case of a 28-year-old male, Saudi patient who was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease and was maintained on regular hemodiaysis via right jugular vein dual lumen catheter for ten months. Three years later, the patient presented with signs and symptoms suggestive of SVC obstruction that was successfully managed with SVC stenting.

The authors present immediate and long-term results of treatment of 117 patients with superior thoracic outlet syndrome (STOS). There were different reasons for compression of neu- rovascular fascicle in outlet of the thorax. The costaclavicular syndrome was a reason in 48 patients, additional cervical ribs had 36 patients. Skalenus syndrome was noted in 26 cases, rudimentary cervical ribs or hypertrophy of cervical vertebrae C7 had 7 patients. Raynaud's syndrome took place in 19 cases. The required volume of diagnostic procedures and surgical treatment of STOS were determined according to the cause of the syndrome. Differentiated approach to the different forms of STOS was used in relation to dominant symptoms of the disease and reasons for compression of neurovascular fascicle. This allowed getting positive results in majority of patients (90,4%) in long- term period.

In order to find the mechanism of superior clunial nerve (SCN) trauma, we dissected and revealed SCN from 12 corpses (24 sides). Combining 100 sides of SCN trauma, we inspected the course of SCN, the relation between SCN and it's neighbour tissues with the situation of SCN when being subjected to force. We found that the following special anatomic characteristics and mechanical elements such as the course of SCN, it's turning angles, the bony fibrous tube at the iliac crest, the posterior layer of the lumbodorsal fascia and SCN neighbour adipose tissue, are the causes of external force inducing SCN trauma. The anatomic revealment is the guidance of SCN trauma treatment with edged needle.

Purpose: To describe and mathematically validate the superiorization methodology, which is a recently-developed heuristic approach to optimization, and to discuss its applicability to medical physics problem formulations that specify the desired solution (of physically given or otherwise obtained constraints) by an optimization criterion. Methods: The underlying idea is that many iterative algorithms for finding such a solution are perturbation resilient in the sense that, even if certain kinds of changes are made at the end of each iterative step, the algorithm still produces a constraints-compatible solution. This property is exploited by using permitted changes to steer the algorithm to a solution that is not only constraints-compatible, but is also desirable according to a specified optimization criterion. The approach is very general, it is applicable to many iterative procedures and optimization criteria used in medical physics. Results: The main practical contribution is a procedure for automatically p...

Extraocular muscles (EOMs) are a unique group of skeletal muscles with unusual physiological properties such as being able to undergo rapid twitch contractions over extended periods and escape damage in the presence of excess intracellular calcium (Ca(2+)) in Duchenne's muscular dystrophy (DMD). Enhanced Ca(2+) buffering has been proposed as a contributory mechanism to explain these properties; however, the mechanisms are not well understood. We investigated mechanisms modulating Ca(2+) levels in EOM and tibialis anterior (TA) limb muscles. Using Fura-2 based ratiometric Ca(2+) imaging of primary myotubes we found that EOM myotubes reduced elevated Ca(2+) ˜2-fold faster than TA myotubes, demonstrating more efficient Ca(2+) buffering. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) and western blotting revealed higher expression of key components of the Ca(2+) regulation system in EOM, such as the cardiac/slow isoforms sarcoplasmic Ca(2+)-ATPase 2 (Serca2) and calsequestrin 2 (Casq2). Interestingly EOM expressed monomeric rather than multimeric forms of phospholamban (Pln), which was phosphorylated at threonine 17 (Thr17) but not at the serine 16 (Ser16) residue. EOM Pln remained monomeric and unphosphorylated at Ser16 despite protein kinase A (PKA) treatment, suggesting differential signalling and modulation cascades involving Pln-mediated Ca(2+) regulation in EOM. Increased expression of Ca(2+)/SR mRNA, proteins, differential post-translational modification of Pln and superior Ca(2+) buffering is consistent with the improved ability of EOM to handle elevated intracellular Ca(2+) levels. These characteristics provide mechanistic insight for the potential role of superior Ca(2+) buffering in the unusual physiology of EOM and their sparing in DMD.

Superior sulcus tumors are a rare type of lung cancer arising in the apex of the lung above the sulcus and cause specific symptoms and signs depending on the location and whether the tumor extends into the surrounding structures. Because of the closeness of critical structures to the tumor (e.g., the subclavian artery for anterior lesions, the brachial plexus for lesions in the middle location, and the sympathetic stellate ganglion causing Horner's syndrome [Pancoast's tumor], the vertebral bodies, nerve foramen, and spinal cord for posterior lesions), superior sulcus tumors were often considered marginally respectable or unresectable. Therefore, for many years, preoperative radiation therapy was considered routine treatment for those tumors. However, with the evolution in our understanding of these tumors and modern imaging techniques such as computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonant imaging (MRI) and surgical techniques, there is now considerable debate about the roles and timing of surgical resection, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with these tumors. If mediastinoscopy reveals microscopic mediastinal lymph node involvement, the patient can be treated with preoperative concurrent chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery. If there was a gross mediastinal lymph node involvement (N2) on CT, N3 or T4 lesions, the patient can be treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy with a curative intent; the outcome of such treatment appears to be better than that of sequential chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy. Whenever possible, without compromising the patient's quality of life, surgery should be considered to improve outcome. (author)

On-orbit collisions pose a significant mission risk to satellites operating in the space environment. Recognizing the likelihood and consequence of on-orbit collisions, NASA has taken several proactive measures to mitigate the risk of both a catastrophic loss of mission and the increase in the space debris population. In fall 2004, NASA GSFC established an Agency-wide, institutionalized process and service for identifying and reacting to predicted close approaches. The team responsible for executing this mission is the NASA Robotic Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis (CARA) team. By fall 2005, this process had resulted in the execution of the first collision avoidance maneuver by a NASA unmanned satellite. In February 2008, NASA adopted a policy, documented in NASA Procedural Requirement 8715.6a Process for Limiting Orbital Debris that directed maneuverable satellites to have such an on-orbit collision mitigation process. In 2009, NASA decided to require support for all operational satellites. By January 2014, the CARA team has processed nearly 500,000 close approach messages from the Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) and has assisted our mission customers with planning and executing over 75 collision avoidance maneuvers for unmanned satellites in LEO, GEO, and HEO orbital regimes. With the increase in number of operational missions supported; growth in the orbital debris environment due to events such as the intentional destruction of the Fengyun 1-C satellite in 2007 and collision between Iridium-33 and Cosmos-2251; and improvements to the United States Space Surveillance Network (SSN) and its ability to track, catalog, and screen against small debris objects, the demands on the CARA process have consequently required the CARA Concept of Operations (CONOPS) to evolve to manage those demands. This evolution is centered on the ability to effectively and efficiently manage JSpOC, CARA, and Mission Operations resources, applying operational and analytical

Full Text Available Pollen is the most common aeroallergen to cause seasonal conjunctivitis. The result of allergen exposure is a strong Th2-mediated response along with conjunctival mast cell degranulation and eosinophilic infiltration. Oleanolic acid (OA is natural a triterpene that displays strong anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties being an active anti-allergic molecule on hypersensitivity reaction models. However, its effect on inflammatory ocular disorders including conjunctivitis, has not yet been addressed. Hence, using a Ragweed pollen (RWP-specific allergic conjunctivitis (EAC mouse model we study here whether OA could modify responses associated to allergic processes. We found that OA treatment restricted mast cell degranulation and infiltration of eosinophils in conjunctival tissue and decreased allergen-specific Igs levels in EAC mice. Th2-type cytokines, secreted phospholipase A2 type-IIA (sPLA2-IIA, and chemokines levels were also significantly diminished in the conjunctiva and serum of OA-treated EAC mice. Moreover, OA treatment also suppressed RWP-specific T-cell proliferation. In vitro studies, on relevant cells of the allergic process, revealed that OA reduced the proliferative and migratory response, as well as the synthesis of proinflammatory mediators on EoL-1 eosinophils and RBL-2H3 mast cells exposed to allergic and/or crucial inflammatory stimuli such as RWP, sPLA2-IIA or eotaxin. Taken together, these findings demonstrate the beneficial activity of OA in ocular allergic processes and may provide a new intervention strategy and potential therapy for allergic diseases.

Due to excessive groundwater withdrawals, many water wells in Baton Rouge, Louisiana experience undesirable chloride concentration because of saltwater intrusion. The study goal is to develop a conjunctive management framework that takes advantage of the Baton Rouge multi-aquifer system to mitigate saltwater intrusion. The conjunctive management framework utilizes several hydraulic control techniques to mitigate saltwater encroachment. These hydraulic control approaches include pumping well relocation, freshwater injection, saltwater scavenging, and their combinations. Specific objectives of the study are: (1) constructing scientific geologic architectures of the "800-foot" sand, the "1,000-foot" sand, the "1,200-foot" sand, the "1,500-foot" sand, the "1,700-foot" sand, and the "2,000-foot" sand, (2) developing scientific saltwater intrusion models for these sands. (3) using connector wells to draw native groundwater from one sand and inject to another sand to create hydraulic barriers to halt saltwater intrusion, (4) using scavenger wells or well couples to impede saltwater intrusion progress and reduce chloride concentration in pumping wells, and (5) reducing cones of depression by relocating and dispersing pumping wells to different sands. The study utilizes optimization techniques and newest LSU high performance computing (HPC) facilities to derive solutions. The conjunctive management framework serves as a scientific tool to assist policy makers to solve the urgent saltwater encroachment issue in the Baton Rouge area. The research results will help water companies as well as industries in East Baton Rouge Parish and neighboring parishes by reducing their saltwater intrusion threats, which in turn would sustain Capital Area economic development.

Allergic diseases, which affect up to 20-30% of the world population, are still therapeutic challenge for allergists. Tetracyclines, which belong to an antibiotic drug family that possesses a striking variety of non-antibiotic properties, have been successfully applied to a wide range of diseases. However, their roles in allergic conjunctivitis and anaphylaxis and their underlying anti-allergy mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we reported that treatment with doxycycline significantly reduced IgE release from mouse B cells and the degranulation and inflammatory cytokines production of mouse mast cells (MCs) activated by IgE-dependent way. Furthermore, doxycycline treatment significantly inhibited histamine-induced vascular hyperpermeability in vitro. Mechanistically, the doxycycline-mediated inhibition of B cells, MCs and histamine may occur via modulation of the PI3K/Akt pathway. In vivo, our results demonstrated that treatment with doxycycline significantly attenuated clinical symptoms of mouse models of experimental allergic conjunctivitis (EAC) with a significant decrease in inflammatory cell frequency, IgE production, histamine release, and a decrease in TNF-α and IL-4 production. Using mouse models of MCs-dependent passive systemic anaphylaxis (PSA), we further confirmed anti-allergy effects of doxycycline and doxycycline-mediated inhibitory effects on MCs. Furthermore, our results showed that doxycycline significantly attenuate histamine-induced systemic anaphylaxis-like reaction (HISA) with a significantly downregulation of PI3K/Akt/eNOS/VE-cadherin pathway. The doxycycline-mediated anti-allergy effects during EAC, PSA and HISA were abrogated when an Akt activator, SC79, was administered. These findings suggest that doxycycline inhibits B cell, MC and histamine function and attenuates experimental allergic conjunctivitis and systemic anaphylaxis by possible modulating the PI3K/Akt pathway.

This study develops a successive mixed-integer linear fractional programming (successive MILFP) method to conjunctively manage water resources provided by a multi-reservoir network system and a groundwater system. The conjunctive management objectives are to maximize groundwater withdrawals and maximize reservoir storages while satisfying water demands and raising groundwater level to a target level. The decision variables in the management problem are reservoir releases and spills, network flows and groundwater pumping rates. Using the fractional programming approach, the objective function is defined as a ratio of total groundwater withdraws to total reservoir storage deficits from the maximum storages. Maximizing this ratio function tends to maximizing groundwater use and minimizing surface water use. This study introduces a conditional constraint on groundwater head in order to sustain aquifers from overpumping: if current groundwater level is less than a target level, groundwater head at the next time period has to be raised; otherwise, it is allowed to decrease up to a certain extent. This conditional constraint is formulated into a set of mixed binary nonlinear constraints and results in a mixed-integer nonlinear fractional programming (MINLFP) problem. To solve the MINLFP problem, we first use the response matrix approach to linearize groundwater head with respect to pumping rate and reduce the problem to an MILFP problem. Using the Charnes-Cooper transformation, the MILFP is transformed to an equivalent mixed-integer linear programming (MILP). The solution of the MILP is successively updated by updating the response matrix in every iteration. The study uses IBM CPLEX to solve the MILP problem. The methodology is applied to water resources management in northern Louisiana. This conjunctive management approach aims to recover the declining groundwater level of the stressed Sparta aquifer by using surface water from a network of four reservoirs as an

Concentrated solar thermal energy can be utilized in a variety of high temperature applications for both terrestrial and space environments. In each application, knowledge of the collector and absorber's heat exchange interaction is required. To understand this coupled mechanism, various concentrator types and geometries, as well as, their relationship to the physical absorber mechanics were investigated. To conduct experimental tests various parts of a 5,000 watt, thermal concentrator, facility were made and evaluated. This was in anticipation at a larger NASA facility proposed for construction. Although much of the work centered on solar thermal propulsion for an upper stage (less than one pound thrust range), the information generated and the facility's capabilities are applicable to material processing, power generation and similar uses. The numerical calculations used to design the laboratory mirror and the procedure for evaluating other solar collectors are presented here. The mirror design is based on a hexagonal faceted system, which uses a spherical approximation to the parabolic surface. The work began with a few two dimensional estimates and continued with a full, three dimensional, numerical algorithm written in FORTRAN code. This was compared to a full geometry, ray trace program, BEAM 4, which optimizes the curvatures, based on purely optical considerations. Founded on numerical results, the characteristics of a faceted concentrator were construed. The numerical methodologies themselves were evaluated and categorized. As a result, the three-dimensional FORTRAN code was the method chosen to construct the mirrors, due to its overall accuracy and superior results to the ray trace program. This information is being used to fabricate and subsequently, laser map the actual mirror surfaces. Evaluation of concentrator mirrors, thermal applications and scaling the results of the 10 foot diameter mirror to a much larger concentrator, were studied. Evaluations

Abdominal wall hernias are often diagnosed on clinical examination or encountered intraoperatively during an abdominoplasty. Traditional surgical techniques for abdominoplasty and umbilical hernia repair, when performed simultaneously, can potentially compromise the vascular supply to the umbilicus. The authors describe a simplified surgical technique for the correction of umbilical hernias in conjunction with abdominoplasty. This procedure avoids any fascial incisions immediately adjacent to the umbilicus, thereby maintaining a maximal blood supply to the umbilical stalk. Over a six-year period, 17 patients underwent the described procedure. None have had a recurrence of their hernia or umbilical necrosis, and the aesthetics of the umbilicus have been improved.

This paper describes one of the challenges facing the flight operations teams of the International Earth Observing constellation satellites at the 705 km orbit, including NASAs satellites. The NASA Earth Science Mission Operations (ESMO) Project has been dealing with predicted conjunctions (close approach) between operational/non-operational space objects and the satellites in the International Earth observing constellations for several years. Constellation satellites include: NASAs Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra, Aqua, and Aura, CloudSat, the joint NASA/CNES CALIPSO mission, Earth Observing 1 (EO-1), the Japan Aerospace and Exploration Agency (JAXA) Global Change Observation Mission-Water 1 (GCOM-W1) mission, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat 7 and Landsat 8, and until 2013, Argentinas SAC-C mission and the CNES PARASOL mission. The NASA Conjunction Analysis and Risk Assessment (CARA) team provides daily reports to the ESMO Project regarding any high interest close approach events (HIEs) involving the constellation satellites. The daily CARA reports provide risk assessment results that help the operations teams to determine if there is a need to perform a risk mitigation action. If the conjuncting space object is an operational satellite that is capable of maneuvering, the affected satellite team needs to coordinate their action plan with the owner operator of the conjuncting satellite. It is absolutely critical for the two teams to communicate as soon as possible. The goal is to minimize the collision risk; this can happen if both satellite operators do not coordinate their maneuver plans. The constellation teams have established guidelines for coordinating HIEs. This coordination process has worked successfully for several years for satellites that are operated by other organizations in the United States and by NASAs international partners, all with whom NASA has a cooperative agreement. However, the situation is different for HIEs with

Between January 1999 and December 2000, 80 consecutive patients with chronic conjunctivitis presenting in the eye clinic of Birjand University of Medical Sciences were assessed for trachoma and chlamydial infection. Direct fluorescent antibody test was used to assess trachoma and Giemsa staining to detect chlamydial infection. Trachoma was detected in 10% of the patients and chlamydial infection detected in 6.3%. The results were similar for both sexes. Although the findings are hospital-based, the prevalence was not so high as to suggest prophylactic use of azithromycin (World Health Organization protocol) for eradication of trachoma in the Birjand population. Further epidemiological studies are recommended.

This case describes a 71 year old, post-menopausal woman who developed vaginal discharge. This complaint ultimately led to the discovery of bowel cancer in conjunction with a large sterile pyometra. The pyometra was not due to genital malignancy. The most likely conclusion is that the pyometra may have arisen as an inflammatory response to the adjacent bowel pathology. This case report highlights the need for clinicians to consider non-gynaecological cancer as a possible cause for otherwise unexplained pyometra. PMID:18606021

We propose a Wald Sequential Probability Ratio Test for analysis of commonly available predictions associated with spacecraft conjunctions. Such predictions generally consist of a relative state and relative state error covariance at the time of closest approach, under the assumption that prediction errors are Gaussian. We show that under these circumstances, the likelihood ratio of the Wald test reduces to an especially simple form, involving the current best estimate of collision probability, and a similar estimate of collision probability that is based on prior assumptions about the likelihood of collision.

本篇论文以海明威小说中的微型语域语篇体裁为语料,重点探讨了语篇中连接词与语篇体裁之间的关系.本文提出的假设是:语篇中连接词的选择和语篇体裁之间有着密不可分的关系.分析论证表明:叙述体语篇以外向型的表时间的连接词为其主要连接词,描述体语篇以表复加逻辑语义的连接词为主要连接词.语篇不同的交际目的使具有不同语义内涵的连接词在某类语篇体裁中占主导位置.以上发现可以帮助得出如下基本结论:语言是一个社会符号体系.语篇体裁在本质上也是一个社会符号体系,就连接词而言,不同类型的语篇体裁所具有的不同的交际目的可以使信息发出者偏重选择具有不同类型逻辑语义关系的连接词.%In this paper the author mainly discusses the relationship between Conjunction and genre. The hypothesis the thesis proposes is that there exists a certain relationship between the semantic systems of Conjunction and the higher semiotic organization of text, genre. Through analysis of the micro-register texts taken from Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, it is found that narrative texts are always having the external temporal successive conjunctive relation as the dominating relation. And in the non-narrative text such as the Descriptive Text, the internal additional logical semantic relation or the internal temporal logical semantic relation dominates text. Our finding demonstrates that the options of the logico-semantic relation of Conjunction are closely related to genre and the text identification and classification.

This study explores the use of pH stacking in conjunction with 5-aminofluorescein as a derivatization agent for the sensitive analysis of simple sugars such as glucose, lactose and maltotriose by capillary electrophoresis (CE). The derivatization agent was selected on the basis of its extremely high molar absorptivity, its compatibility with a 488nm light-emitting diode (LED) and the fact that it has two ionizable groups making it compatible with on-line stacking using a dynamic pH junction. The influence of both acetic and formic acids at concentrations of 0.19, 0.019 and 0.0019molL(-1) were investigated with regard to both derivatization efficiency and the ability to stack using a dynamic pH junction. Superior sensitivity and resolution was obtained in formic acid over acetic acid. Substantially lower peaks were obtained with 0.19molL(-1) formic acid when compared to 0.019 and 0.0019molL(-1) concentrations, which was confirmed by computer simulation studies to be due to the inadequate movement of the pH boundary for stacking. Further simulation studies combined with experimental data showed the separation with the best resolution and greatest sensitivity when the carbohydrates were derivatized with the 0.095molL(-1) formic acid. Utilisation of stacking via dynamic pH junction mode in conjunction with LED detection enabled efficiencies of 150,000 plates and detection limits in the order of 8.5x10(-8)molL(-1) for simple sugars such as glucose, lactose and maltotriose hydrate. The current system also demonstrates a 515 times improvement in sensitivity when compared to using a normal deuterium lamp, and 16 times improvement over other systems using LEDs.

The prospect of studying the solar energy generation process directly by observing the solar neutrino radiation has been discussed for many years. The main difficulty with this approach is that the sun emits predominantly low energy neutrinos, and detectors for observing low fluxes of low energy neutrinos have not been developed. However, experimental techniques have been developed for observing neutrinos, and one can foresee that in the near future these techniques will be improved sufficiently in sensitivity to observe solar neutrinos. At the present several experiments are being designed and hopefully will be operating in the next year or so. We will discuss an experiment based upon a neutrino capture reaction that is the inverse of the electron-capture radioactive decay of argon-37. The method depends upon exposing a large volume of a chlorine compound, removing the radioactive argon-37 and observing the characteristic decay in a small low-level counter.

Aims: A variety of periodic phenomena have been observed in conjunction with large solar jets. We aim to find further evidence for (quasi-)periodic behaviour in solar jets and determine what the periodic behaviour can tell us about the excitation mechanism and formation process of the large solar jet. \\ud \\ud Methods: Using the 304 Å (He-II), 171 Å (Fe IX), 193 Å (Fe XII/XXIV) and 131 Å (Fe VIII/XXI) filters onboard the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), we in...

The paper is concerned with (1) the thermodynamic and kinetic limits for the photochemical conversion and storage of solar energy as it is received on the earth's surface, and (2) the evaluation of a number of possible photochemical reactions with particular emphasis on the production of solar hydrogen from water. Procedures for generating hydrogen fuel are considered. Topics examined include the general requirements for a fuel-generation reaction, the photochemical reaction, limits on the conversion of light energy to chemical energy, an estimate of chemical storage efficiency, and the water decomposition reaction.

This thesis is about Photovoltaic (PV) cells and its stresses in various directions by calculating the power generated using solar cells under different conditions to improve its efficiency. Our research studies found that using multi-junction cells with larger substrates can increase the efficiency to some extent which in practice is limited to 43 percent. The experiment was conducted using ten solar cells each with an area of 20.9〖cm〗 ^2, where each cell gives 0.5 V and 0.4 A and a 1.25 Ω r...

This booklet provides an introduction to solar energy by discussing: (1) how a home is heated; (2) how solar energy can help in the heating process; (3) the characteristics of passive solar houses; (4) the characteristics of active solar houses; (5) how solar heat is stored; and (6) other uses of solar energy. Also provided are 10 questions to…

We develop optimal conjunctive use water management strategies that balance two potentially conflicting objectives: sustaining irrigated agriculture during droughts and minimizing unnecessary spills and resulting water losses from the reservoir during wet periods. Conjunctive use is specified by a linear operating rule, which determines the maximum surface water release as a function of initial reservoir storage. Optimal strategies are identified using multiobjective interannual optimization for sustainability and spill control, combined with gradient-based annual profit maximization. Application to historical conditions in the irrigated system of the Yaqui Valley, Mexico, yields a Pareto curve of solutions illustrating the trade-off between sustaining agriculture and minimizing spills and water losses. Minimal water losses are obtained by maximizing surface water use and limiting groundwater pumping, such that reservoir levels are kept sufficiently low. Maximum agricultural sustainability, on the other hand, results from increased groundwater use and keeping surface water reservoir levels high during wet periods. Selected optimal operating rules from the multiobjective optimization are tested over a large number of equally probable streamflow time series, generated with a stochastic time series model. In this manner, statistical properties, such as the mean sustainability and sustainability percentiles, are determined for each optimal rule. These statistical properties can be used to select rules for water management that are reliable over a wide range of streamflow conditions.

Full Text Available Muholan Kanapathy,1 Mark J Portou,1,2 Janice Tsui,1,2 Toby Richards1,21Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London, 2Department of Vascular Surgery, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust Hospital, London, UKAbstract: Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs are complex, chronic, and progressive wounds, and have a significant impact on morbidity, mortality, and quality of life. A particular aspect of DFU that has not been reviewed extensively thus far is its management in conjunction with peripheral limb edema. Peripheral limb edema is a feature of diabetes that has been identified as a significant risk factor for amputation in patients with DFU. Three major etiological factors in development of lymphedema with concurrent DFU are diabetic microangiopathy, failure of autonomic regulation, and recurrent infection. This review outlines the pathophysiology of lymphedema formation in patients with DFU and highlights the cellular and immune components of impaired wound healing in lymphedematous DFU. We then discuss the principles of management of DFU in conjunction with lymphedema.Keywords: diabetic foot ulcer, lymphedema, chronic wound, wound management

Full Text Available The maxillary sinus grafting procedure has proven to be an acceptable modality for bone augmentation to provide a base for endosseous implants, routinely used for the rehabilitation of posterior maxilla. Perforation of the membrane is the most common complication in this type of procedure. This paper presents a technique for repairing a perforated Schneiderian membrane with a conjunctive connective tissue graft harvested from the palate and shows the histological and radiographic evaluation of the results. Ten consecutives cases with the occurrence of membrane perforation were included in this study. All were repaired with a flap of tissue removed from the palatine portion near to the surgical site. The technique is demonstrated through a clinical case. The results showed successful integration of 88.8% of the implants after 12 months from prosthesis installation. Histological evaluation of the samples showed that the use of nanocrystalized hydroxyapatite showed an adequate stimulation of boné neoformation within 6 months. Radiographic evaluation revealed a small apical implant bone loss, not compromising their anchorages and proservation. Thus, it can be concluded that the use of conjunctive technique with collected palate flap for sealing the perforation of the membrane of the sinus may have predictable result.

The dependency of surface- or groundwater flows and aquifer hydraulic properties on dewatering-induced layer deformation is not available in the USGS's groundwater model MODFLOW. A new integrated hydrologic model, MODFLOW-OWHM, formulates this dependency by coupling mesh deformation with aquifer transmissivity and storage and by linking land subsidence/uplift with deformation-dependent flows that also depend on aquifer head and other flow terms. In a test example, flows most affected were stream seepage and evapotranspiration from groundwater (ETgw). Deformation feedback also had an indirect effect on conjunctive surface- and groundwater use components: Changed stream seepage and streamflows influenced surface-water deliveries and returnflows. Changed ETgw impacted on irrigation demand, which jointly with altered surface-water supplies resulted in changed supplemental groundwater requirements and pumping and changed return runoff. This modeling feature will improve the impact assessment of dewatering-induced land subsidence/uplift (following irrigation pumping or coal-seam gas extraction) on surface receptors, inter-basin transfers, and surface-infrastructure integrity. A hypothetical example and the Central Valley are used to demonstrate the utility and importance of the new subsidence model linkages for conjunctive use.

Full Text Available Patricia B Williams1,2, Elizabeth Crandall2, John D Sheppard1,21Thomas R Lee Center for Ocular Pharmacology, 2Department of Ophthalmology, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, A, USAAbstract: Over 50% of patients who seek treatment for allergies present with ocular ­symptoms. Our current ability to control ocular allergic symptoms is greater than ever before. Newer dual-acting topical eyedrops attack multiple facets of the allergic cascade. Azelastine has antihistaminic effects providing immediate relief, mast cell stabilization providing early-phase intervention, and inhibition of expression and activation of anti-inflammatory mediators which characterize the late phase of the immune reaction. The ophthalmic eyedrop formulation is approved for treatment of allergic conjunctivitis in adults and children aged over 3 years. In clinical trials comparing azelastine with other dual-acting eyedrops, such as levocabastine and olopatadine, azelastine was reported to be slightly less efficacious and to sting briefly upon administration. Even so, many patients experienced the full benefit of symptom relief, and preferred azelastine. As a broad-spectrum drug, azelastine offers many desirable properties for management of ocular allergies. Because it can often produce maximal effect with just twice-daily dosing, azelastine is a particularly good choice for the allergic population in whom minimizing exposure to topical products and preservatives is a key concern.Keywords: allergic conjunctivitis, dual acting anti-inflammatory, H1 receptor antagonism, mast cell stabilization, inflammatory mediator inhibition

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Purpose: To evaluate the visual outcomes, recurrence patterns, safety, and efficacy of excimer laser phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK in conjunction with mitomycin C (MMC for corneal macular and granular diystrophies. Methods: The patients were divided into two groups. Group 1 included patients with macular corneal dystrophy (MCD that caused superficial corneal plaque opacities, and Group 2 included patients with granular corneal dystrophy (GCD. Patients in both groups were pre-, peri-, and postoperatively evaluated. The groups were compared in terms of uncorrected visual acuity (VA, best spectacle-corrected VA, presence of mild or significant recurrence, and time of recurrence. Results: Eighteen eyes (nine with MCD and nine with GCD of 18 patients (10 men and eight women were included. PTK was performed for each eye that was included in this study. The mean ablation amount was 117.8 ± 24.4 µm and 83.5 ± 45.7 µm in MCD and GCD, respectively, (p=0.18. The postoperative improvement of the mean VA was similar between the two groups before recurrences (p>0.43 and after recurrences (p>0.71. There were no statistically significant differences in the recurrence rate and the recurrence-free period for any recurrence type. Conclusion: PTK was an effective, safe, and minimally invasive procedure for patients with MCD and GCD. PTK in conjunction with MMC was similarly effective for both groups in terms of recurrence and visual outcomes.

Full Text Available This open-label, prospective, multicentre, 4-week trial was undertaken to assess the efficacy and tolerability of twice daily levocabastine eye drops (0.5 mg/ml, with sodium cromoglycate nasal spray for the relief of concurrent nasal symptoms if required, in a total of 233 children with seasonal allergic conjunctivitis. No correlation between efficacy, tolerability and age was found. Investigator assessments revealed that the total severity of ocular symptoms decreased by 84 ± 34% in patients < 12 years and 85 ± 30% in those ≥ 12 years, with corresponding reductions in the total severity of ocular findings of 84% in both patient groups over the 4-week treatment period. Global assessments of therapeutic efficacy revealed the effect of therapy on ocular symptoms to be excellent or good in 81% of patients < 12 years and 82% of those ≥ 12 years after 2 weeks of treatment, with corresponding values at the end of the trial of 88% and 82% in the two groups, respectively. Treatment tolerability was considered to be excellent or good by 94% of patients overall. Application site reactions were the most common adverse event associated with ocular levocabastine, occurring in 13% of patients < 12 years and 9% of those ≥ 12 years. Twice daily levocabastine eye drops therefore appear to be effective and well tolerated for the treatment of seasonal allergic conjunctivitis in children.

Full Text Available (Rapid Serial Visual Presentation, RSVP can migrate forming a wrong
combination or illusory conjunction. Several serial and parallel models have
been proposed to explain the generation of this type of errors. The
behavioral results fit better the two-stage parallel model than other serial and
parallel models. However, they have not been studied the
psychophysiological correlates that distinguish successful bindings from
Illusory Conjunctions. The goal here is to collect electrophysiological
records during this task to determine the degree to which they converge with
the evidence from behavioral results. One RSVP task required to identify the
only uppercase word in a stream of lowercase words at a rate of 12
items/sec. As in previous experiments, more intrusions from post-target
items than from pre-target items were observed. The results from eventrelated
potentials are also more supportive for the two-stage parallel model
than for the serial or other parallel models, as reflected in the differential
waves associated to correct and wrong combinations

The role of the coastal margin and the watershed context in defining the ecology of even very large lakes is increasingly being recognized and examined. Coastal wetlands are both important contributors to the biodiversity and productivity of large lakes and important mediators of the lake-basin connection. We explored wetland-watershed connections and their relationship to wetland function and condition using data collected from 37 Lake Superior wetlands spanning a substantial geographic and geomorphic gradient. While none of these wetlands are particularly disturbed, there were nevertheless clear relationships between watershed landuse and wetland habitat and biota, and these varied consistently across wetland type categories that reflected the strength of connection to the watershed. For example, water clarity and vegetation structure complexity declined with decreasing percent natural land cover, and these effects were strongest in riverine wetlands (having generally large watersheds and tributary-dominated hydrology) and weakest in lagoon wetlands (having generally small watersheds and lake-dominate hydrology). Fish abundance and species richness both increased with decreasing percent natural land cover while species diversity decreased, and again the effect was strongest in riverine wetlands. Lagoonal wetlands, which lack any substantial tributary, consistently harbored the fewest species of fish and a composition different from the more watershed-lin

Thrill young astronomers with a journey through our Solar System. Find out all about the Inner and Outer Planets, the Moon, Stars, Constellations, Asteroids, Meteors and Comets. Using simplified language and vocabulary, concepts such as planetary orbits, the asteroid belt, the lunar cycle and phases of the moon, and shooting stars are all explored.

relevant indications on the fundamental interactions among particles. After reviewing the striking results of the last two decades, which were determinant to solve the long standing solar neutrino puzzle and refine the Standard Solar Model, we focus our attention on the more recent results in this field and on the experiments presently running or planned for the near future. The main focus at the moment is to improve the knowledge of the mass and mixing pattern and especially to study in detail the lowest energy part of the spectrum, which represents most of the solar neutrino spectrum but is still a partially unexplored realm. We discuss this research project and the way in which present and future experiments could contribute to make the theoretical framework more complete and stable, understanding the origin of some “anomalies” that seem to emerge from the data and contributing to answer some present questions, like the exact mechanism of the vacuum to matter transition and the solution of the so-called solar metallicity problem.

Urban-rural interaction and conjunctional development is the effective way of harmonizing urban-rural relationship and promoting urban-rural development. However, there are differences in the level of urban-rural interaction and conjunctional development of China. How to measure and reflect the difference properly is a decision-making foundation for optimizing urban-rural development of different regions. The paper employs multiple methods to evaluate and order the urban-rural interaction and conjunctional development of 31provinces (municipalities) in China. Kendall's W consistency coefficient is employed to give a consistent test for the evaluation result series, and the results of multiple methods are aggregated as the final evaluation value. The results reflect the level of regional urban-rural interaction and conjunctional development in China.

Full Text Available The present study was an attempt to investigate the relationship of self-efficacy beliefs, writing strategies, and correct use of conjunctions in EFL learners. The participants were 67 EFL learners who studied English in Iran English Institute, Karaj branch. Participants filled out two questionnaires including Self-efficacy beliefs questionnaire, and Writing strategies questionnaire. They also had a writing task in form of completion regarding conjunctions. The results indicated that there was a significant relationship between self-efficacy beliefs and writing strategies of EFL learners, but there was not a significant relationship between the writing strategies and correct use of conjunctions in these learners. Keywords: Self-efficacy beliefs, writing strategies, conjunctions.

The fields of solar radiophysics and solar system radio physics, or radio heliophysics, will benefit immensely from an instrument with the capabilities projected for SKA. Potential applications include interplanetary scintillation (IPS), radio-burst tracking, and solar spectral radio imaging with a superior sensitivity. These will provide breakthrough new insights and results in topics of fundamental importance, such as the physics of impulsive energy releases, magnetohydrodynamic oscillations and turbulence, the dynamics of post-eruptive processes, energetic particle acceleration, the structure of the solar wind and the development and evolution of solar wind transients at distances up to and beyond the orbit of the Earth. The combination of the high spectral, time and spatial resolution and the unprecedented sensitivity of the SKA will radically advance our understanding of basic physical processes operating in solar and heliospheric plasmas and provide a solid foundation for the forecasting of space weathe...

The concept of a solar power satellite (SPS) is reviewed, and a design proposed for such a satellite taking advantage of solar radiation pressure and gravity gradient forces to eliminate much of the structure from the baseline configuration. The SPS design consists of a solar cell array lying in the orbital plane and a free floating mirror above to reflect sunlight down onto it. The structural modes of the solar cell array are analyzed and found to be well within control limitations. Preliminary calculations concerning the free floating mirror and its position-keeping propellant requirements are also performed. A numerical example is presented, which shows that, even in terms of mass only, this configuration is a competitive design when compared to the conventional Department of Energy reference design. Other advantages, such as easier assembly in orbit, lower position-keeping propellant requirements, possibilities for decreasing necessary solar cell area, and longer solar cell life, may make this design superior.

Hybrid organometallic trihalide perovskites are promising candidates in the applications for next-generation, high-performance, low-cost optoelectronic devices, including photovoltaics, light emitting diodes, and photodetectors. Particularly, the solar cells based on this type of materials have reached 22% lab scale power conversion efficiency in only about seven years, comparable to the other thin film photovoltaic technologies. Hybrid perovskite materials not only exhibit superior optoelectronic properties, but also show many interesting physical properties such as ion migration and defect physics, which may allow the exploration of more device functionalities. In this article, the fundamental understanding of the interrelationships between crystal structure, electronic structure, and material properties is discussed. Various chemical synthesis and processing methods for superior device performance in solar cells and optoelectronic devices are reviewed.

Full Text Available DeGaulle I Chigbu, Alissa M Coyne Pennsylvania College of Optometry Salus University, Elkins Park, PA, USA Abstract: Allergic disorders of the ocular surface are primarily characterized as IgE- and/or T-lymphocyte-mediated disorders that affect the cornea, conjunctiva, and eyelid. Approximately 40% of individuals in the developed countries have allergic conjunctivitis, and as such, it is the most common form of ocular allergy. Seasonal allergic conjunctivitis is the most prevalent type of allergic conjunctivitis that impacts the quality of life of patients. This article reviews the pharmacology, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, clinical trials, clinical efficacy, and safety of alcaftadine. Histamine and the pathological mechanism of ocular allergy will be briefly reviewed with the intent of providing a background for the detailed discussion on the clinical utility of alcaftadine in allergic conjunctivitis. The Medline PubMed, Elsevier Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases were used to search for evidence-based literature on histamine and immunopathological mechanism of allergic conjunctivitis, as well as on pharmacology, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, clinical trials, and clinical efficacy of alcaftadine. The treatment and management goals of allergic conjunctivitis are to prevent or minimize the inflammatory cascade associated with allergic response in the early stages of the pathological mechanism. It is of note that activation of histamine receptors on immune and nonimmune cells are associated with allergen-induced inflammation of the conjunctiva and its associated ocular allergic manifestations, including itching, edema, hyperemia, and tearing. Alcaftadine is an efficacious multiple action antiallergic therapeutic agent with inverse agonist activity on H1, H2, and H4 receptors, as well as anti-inflammatory and mast cell stabilizing effects that could provide therapeutic benefits to patients with allergic conjunctivitis

was 60 W/m2 (including simulation of solar radiation and miscellaneous heat loads). The results showed that uniform thermal conditions (differences smaller than 1 °K) were generated in the occupied zone with the studied system configurations. The LCBCC diminished the effect of the buoyancy flow from...

(Figure Presented). A colloidal quantum dot solar cell is fabricated by spray-coating under ambient conditions. By developing a room-temperature spray-coating technique and implementing a fully automated process with near monolayer control - an approach termed as sprayLD - an electronic defect is eliminated resulting in solar cell performance and statistical distribution superior to prior batch-processed methods along with a hero performance of 8.1%.

We investigate silicon nanohole arrays as light absorbing structures for solar photovoltaics via simulation. To obtain the same ultimate efficiency as a standard 300 microm crystalline silicon wafer, we find that nanohole arrays require twelve times less silicon by mass. Moreover, our calculations show that nanohole arrays have an efficiency superior to nanorod arrays for practical thicknesses. With well-established fabrication techniques, nanohole arrays have great potential for efficient solar photovoltaics.

Solar Decathlon is an annual university challenge where nearly zeroenergy housing prototypes enter in international competition, through a series of ten tests. The contest aims for superior energy performance, high standards of interior comfort, architectural aesthetics, positive electrical balances, industrialisation, and contained costs and feasibility as a marketable proposal. Seven editions of the Solar Decathlon have been held, with a total of 140 competing proposals both realized and pl...

AIM: To assess the efficacy of topical Semaphorin 3A(SEMA3A) in the treatment of allergic conjunctivitis.METHODS: Experimental allergic conjunctivitis(EAC)mice model induced by short ragweed pollen(SRW) in 4-week-old of BALB/c mice, mice were evaluated using haematoxylin and eosin(H&E) staining, immunofluor-escence and light microscope photographs. Early phase took the samples in 24 h after instillation and late phase took the samples between 4 to 14 d after the start of treatment. The study use of topical SEMA3A(10 U, 100 U,1000 U) eye drops and subconjunctival injection of SEMA3 A with same concentration. For comparison, five types of allergy eyedrops were quantified using clinical characteristics.· RESULTS: Clinical score of composite ocular symptoms of the mice treated with SEMA3 A were significantly decreased both in the immediate phase and the late phase compared to those treated with commercial ophthalmic formulations and non-treatment mice. SEMA3 A treatment attenuates infiltration of eosinophils entering into conjunctiva in EAC mice. The score of eosinophil infiltration in the conjunctiva of SEMA3 A 1000 U-treated group were significantly lower than low-concentration of SEMA3 A treated groups and non-treated group. SEMA3 A treatment also suppressed T-cell proliferation in vitro and decreased serum total Ig E levels in EAC mice. Moreover, treatment of SEMA3 A suppressed Th2-related cytokines(IL-5, IL-13 and IL-4)and pro-inflammatory cytokines(IFN-γ, IL-17 and TNF-α)release, but increased regulatory cytokine IL-10 concentration in the conjunctiva of EAC mice.CONCLUSION: SEMA3 A as a biological agent, showed the beneficial activity in ocular allergic processes with the less damage to the intraocular tissue. It is expected that SEMA3 A may be contributed in patients with a more severe spectrum of refractory ocular allergic diseases including allergic conjunctivitis in the near future.

Two dimensional (2D) materials with a finite band gap and high carrier mobility are sought after materials from both fundamental and technological perspectives. In this paper, we present the results based on the particle swarm optimization method and density functional theory which predict three geometrically different phases of the carbon phosphide (CP) monolayer consisting of sp2 hybridized C atoms and sp3 hybridized P atoms in hexagonal networks. Two of the phases, referred to as α-CP and β-CP with puckered or buckled surfaces are semiconducting with highly anisotropic electronic and mechanical properties. More remarkably, they have the lightest electrons and holes among the known 2D semiconductors, yielding superior carrier mobility. The γ-CP has a distorted hexagonal network and exhibits a semi-metallic behavior with Dirac cones. These theoretical findings suggest that the binary CP monolayer is a yet unexplored 2D material holding great promise for applications in high-performance electronics and optoelectronics.Two dimensional (2D) materials with a finite band gap and high carrier mobility are sought after materials from both fundamental and technological perspectives. In this paper, we present the results based on the particle swarm optimization method and density functional theory which predict three geometrically different phases of the carbon phosphide (CP) monolayer consisting of sp2 hybridized C atoms and sp3 hybridized P atoms in hexagonal networks. Two of the phases, referred to as α-CP and β-CP with puckered or buckled surfaces are semiconducting with highly anisotropic electronic and mechanical properties. More remarkably, they have the lightest electrons and holes among the known 2D semiconductors, yielding superior carrier mobility. The γ-CP has a distorted hexagonal network and exhibits a semi-metallic behavior with Dirac cones. These theoretical findings suggest that the binary CP monolayer is a yet unexplored 2D material holding great

no postnatal complications. All children were found to have healthy hearts at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: In all cases, the findings proved to be a benign condition with no clinical manifestations or complications. Although isolated absent right superior caval vein does not seem to affect the outcome, associated......Introduction In up to 0.07% of the general population, the right anterior cardinal vein obliterates and the left remains open, creating an absent right superior caval vein and a persistent left superior caval vein. Absent right superior caval vein is associated with additional congenital heart...... disease in about half the patients. We wished to study the consequences of absent right superior caval vein as an incidental finding on prenatal ultrasonic malformation screening. Material and methods This is a retrospective case series study of all foetuses diagnosed with absent right superior caval vein...

Industrial facilities participating in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (US DOE) Superior Energy Performance (SEP) program are finding that it provides them with significant business value. This value starts with the implementation of ISO 50001-Energy management system standard, which provides an internationally-relevant framework for integration of energy management into an organization’s business processes. The resulting structure emphasizes effective use of available data and supports continual improvement of energy performance. International relevance is particularly important for companies with a global presence or trading interests, providing them with access to supporting ISO standards and a growing body of certified companies representing the collective knowledge of communities of practice. This paper examines the business value of SEP, a voluntary program that builds on ISO 50001, inviting industry to demonstrate an even greater commitment through third-party verification of energy performance improvement to a specified level of achievement. Information from 28 facilities that have already achieved SEP certification will illustrate key findings concerning both the value and the challenges from SEP/ISO 50001 implementation. These include the facilities’ experience with implementation, internal and external value of third-party verification of energy performance improvement; attractive payback periods and the importance of SEP tools and guidance. US DOE is working to bring the program to scale, including the Enterprise-Wide Accelerator (SEP for multiple facilities in a company), the Ratepayer-Funded Program Accelerator (supporting tools for utilities and program administrators to include SEP in their program offerings), and expansion of the program to other sectors and industry supply chains.

This solar energy learning module for use with junior high school students offers a list of activities, a pre-post test, job titles, basic solar energy vocabulary, and diagrams of solar energy collectors and installations. The purpose is to familiarize students with applications of solar energy and titles of jobs where this knowledge could be…

This solar energy learning module for use with junior high school students offers a list of activities, a pre-post test, job titles, basic solar energy vocabulary, and diagrams of solar energy collectors and installations. The purpose is to familiarize students with applications of solar energy and titles of jobs where this knowledge could be…

Superior vena cava syndrome is the obstruction of the superior vena cava or its main tributaries by benign or malignant lesions. The syndrome causes edema and engorgement of the vessels on the face, neck, and arms, nonproductive cough, and dyspnea. We discuss the case of a 48-year-old obese diabetic woman who was admitted with unstable angina. She had previously been diagnosed with superior vena cava syndrome. Urgent coronary artery bypass grafting was necessary Although thousands of coronary...

We propose the superiorization of incremental algorithms for tomographic image reconstruction. The resulting methods follow a better path in its way to finding the optimal solution for the maximum likelihood problem in the sense that they are closer to the Pareto optimal curve than the non-superiorized techniques. A new scaled gradient iteration is proposed and three superiorization schemes are evaluated. Theoretical analysis of the methods as well as computational experiments with both synthetic and real data are provided.

... spectators during the Superior Man Triathlon. DATES: This rule is effective from 6 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. on... Triathlon, which are discussed further below. Under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3), the Coast Guard finds that good... inaugural Superior Man Triathlon will occur along the Bay of Lake Superior. The 1.2 mile swim leg of...

Full Text Available Abstract Background Biomedical named entity recognition (Bio-NER is a challenging problem because, in general, biomedical named entities of the same category (e.g., proteins and genes do not follow one standard nomenclature. They have many irregularities and sometimes appear in ambiguous contexts. In recent years, machine-learning (ML approaches have become increasingly common and now represent the cutting edge of Bio-NER technology. This paper addresses three problems faced by ML-based Bio-NER systems. First, most ML approaches usually employ singleton features that comprise one linguistic property (e.g., the current word is capitalized and at least one class tag (e.g., B-protein, the beginning of a protein name. However, such features may be insufficient in cases where multiple properties must be considered. Adding conjunction features that contain multiple properties can be beneficial, but it would be infeasible to include all conjunction features in an NER model since memory resources are limited and some features are ineffective. To resolve the problem, we use a sequential forward search algorithm to select an effective set of features. Second, variations in the numerical parts of biomedical terms (e.g., "2" in the biomedical term IL2 cause data sparseness and generate many redundant features. In this case, we apply numerical normalization, which solves the problem by replacing all numerals in a term with one representative numeral to help classify named entities. Third, the assignment of NE tags does not depend solely on the target word's closest neighbors, but may depend on words outside the context window (e.g., a context window of five consists of the current word plus two preceding and two subsequent words. We use global patterns generated by the Smith-Waterman local alignment algorithm to identify such structures and modify the results of our ML-based tagger. This is called pattern-based post-processing. Results To develop our ML

We present multi-satellite observations of large amplitude radiation belt whistler-mode waves and relativistic electron precipitation. On separate occasions during the Wind petal orbits and STEREO phasing orbits, Wind and STEREO recorded intense whistler-mode waves in the outer nightside equatorial radiation belt with peak-to-peak amplitudes exceeding 300 mV/m. During these intervals of intense wave activity, SAMPEX recorded relativistic electron microbursts in near magnetic conjunction with Wind and STEREO. This evidence of microburst precipitation occurring at the same time and at nearly the same magnetic local time and L-shell with a bursty temporal structure similar to that of the observed large amplitude wave packets suggests a causal connection between the two phenomena. Simulation studies corroborate this idea, showing that nonlinear wave.particle interactions may result in rapid energization and scattering on timescales comparable to those of the impulsive relativistic electron precipitation.

The importance of the intake positioning height above the floor level on the performance of “ductless” personalized ventilation (“ductless” PV) in conjunction with displacement ventilation (DV) was examined with regard to the quality of inhaled air and of the thermal comfort provided. A typical...... office room with two workstations positioned one behind the other was arranged in a full-scale room. Each workstation consisted of a table with an installed “ductless” PV system, PC, desk lamp and seated breathing thermal manikin. The “ductless” PV system sucked the clean and cool displacement air...... supplied over the floor at four different heights, i.e. 2, 5, 10 and 20 cm and transported it direct to the breathing level. Moreover, two displacement airflow rates were used with a supply temperature adjusted in order to maintain an exhaust air temperature of 26 °C. Two pollution sources, namely air...

Full Text Available We present to you, case of a 10-year-old female with h/o redness, watering since 8 months. Her vision was 20/30 in right eye and 20/70 in left eye. Conjunctiva had plenty of purulent discharge and palpebral conjunctiva was studded with membranous lesions. She was found to have multiple hyperpigmented papulopustular lesions over face, palms and legs. She was started with topical moxifloxacin and lubricating drops. Patient was followed-up after 15 days. At that time her conjunctiva had formation of a woody pseudomembrane. Excision of the lesions and skin biopsy was done and sent for hislopathological examination. Findings of histopathological examination were suggestive of ligneous conjunctivitis and juvenile colloid milia. We have started this patient with long-term cyclosporine drops and tear supplements. In next visit, the membrane was resolved. Hence, we continued with the same treatment, but again the woody membrane recurred.

Full Text Available The ventral tegmental area (VTA plays an essential role in reward and motivation. How the dopamine (DA and non-DA neurons in the VTA engage in motivation-based locomotor behaviors is not well understood. We recorded activity of putative DA and non-DA neurons simultaneously in the VTA of awake mice engaged in motivated voluntary movements such as wheel running. Our results revealed that VTA non-DA neurons exhibited significant rhythmic activity that was correlated with the animal's running rhythms. Activity of putative DA neurons also correlated with the movement behavior, but to a lesser degree. More importantly, putative DA neurons exhibited significant burst activation at both onset and offset of voluntary movements. These findings suggest that VTA DA and non-DA neurons conjunctively process locomotor-related motivational signals that are associated with movement initiation, maintenance and termination.

The Space Fence System is a ground-based space surveillance radar system designed to detect and track all objects in Low Earth Orbit the size of a softball or larger. The system detects many objects that are not currently in the catalog of satellites and space debris that is maintained by the US Air Force. In addition, it will also be capable of tracking many of the deep space objects in the catalog. By providing daily updates of the orbits of these new objects along with updates of most of the objects in the catalog, it will enhance Space Situational Awareness and significantly improve our ability to predict close approaches, aka conjunctions, of objects in space. With this additional capacity for tracking objects in space the Space Surveillance Network has significantly more resources for monitoring orbital debris, especially for debris that could collide with active satellites and other debris.

Full Text Available A responsive laser induced breakdown spectroscopic system was developed and improved for utilizing it as a sensor for the classification of quartz samples on the basis of trace elements present in the acquired samples. Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS in conjunction with discriminant function analysis (DFA was applied for the classification of five different types of quartz samples. The quartz plasmas were produced at ambient pressure using Nd:YAG laser at fundamental harmonic mode (1064 nm. We optimized the detection system by finding the suitable delay time of the laser excitation. This is the first study, where the developed technique (LIBS+DFA was successfully employed to probe and confirm the elemental composition of quartz samples.

Classically, cognitive deficits have been studied and treated in isolation from each other. A stroke patient is classified as being memory impaired, having executive dysfunction or showing attentional deficits after which a dedicated rehabilitation therapy is given. Studies seldom looked at the relationship between these different cognitive domains and syndromes, although, there is evidence that they might share common neuronal substrates and do not occur in isolation. Here, we propose a novel rehabilitation method in virtual reality to treat cognitive deficits in conjunction and report the preliminary results of an ongoing randomized controlled clinical trial. The current results suggest that in a homogeneous patient group the cognitive deficits are correlated and that the individual impairment level can be optimally addressed through an adaptive training paradigm.

The Galileo Photopolarimeter-Radiometer (PPR), when used in the radiometry mode which is most often used at Io, is a long-wavelength infrared single-aperture photometer. It is sensitive to temperatures from about 60 to several hundred K, and is thus useful for studying the volcanoes and background temperatures on Io. PPR can take raster scan images when it is the primary instrument being used (these data were discussed last year, see Rathbun et al., 2002). It can also take data in ride-along mode in conjunction with another remote sensing instrument (either SSI or NIMS) producing one-dimensional temperature scans. The best data of this type were taken during the close approach flybys during orbits I24, I25, I27, I31, I32, and I33 and include measurements of the volcanoes Pele, Prometheus, Pillan, Zamama, Tvashtar, Daedalus, Amarani, Gish Bar, Isum, Emakong, Tupan, and Tohil.

Full Text Available Superior mesenteric artery syndrome is a rare condition that causes a proximal small intestinal obstruction due to contraction of the angle between the superior mesenteric artery and the aorta. Scoliosis surgery is one of the 15 reasons for superior mesenteric artery syndrome, which can present with acute or chronic manifestations. Although conservative treatment is usually possible, surgical treatment is required in certain cases that cannot be treated using conservative methods. In this paper, we describe a patient who developed superior mesenteric artery syndrome after scoliosis surgery and was treated with duodenojejunostomy due to failure and complications of conservative treatment.

Full Text Available Superior vena cava syndrome is a common presentation of bronchogenic carcinoma. The mechanism of obstruction is by compression of superior vena cava by the bronchogenic tumor itself or enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes. However obstruction due to intravascular thrombosis is extremely uncommon. Here, we report a rare case of a 65-year-old male smoker who presented with superior vena cava syndrome and bilateral pleural and pericardial effusion with thrombotic occlusion of the superior vena cava in adenocarcinoma of the lung. He was given chemotherapy with carboplatin and gemcitabine with anticoagulant therapy.

Biopolymers and biopreservatives produced by microorganisms play an essential role in food technology. Polyhydroxyalkanoates and bacteriocins produced by bacteria are promising components to safeguard the environment and for food preservation applications. Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB)-based antimicrobial films were prepared incorporating eugenol, from 10 to 200 μg/g of PHB. The films were evaluated for antimicrobial activity against foodborne pathogens, spoilage bacteria, and fungi such as Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Bacillus cereus, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium sp., and Rhizopus sp. The synergistic antimicrobial activity of the films in the presence of crude pediocin was also investigated. The broth system containing pediocin (soluble form) as well as antimicrobial PHB film demonstrated an extended lag phase and a significant growth reduction at the end of 24 h against the bacteria. Crude pediocin alone could not elicit antifungal activity, while inhibition of growth and sporulation were observed in the presence of antimicrobial PHB film containing eugenol (80 μg/g) until 7 days in the case of molds, i.e., A. niger, A. flavus, Penicillium sp., and Rhizopus sp. in potato dextrose broth. In the present study, we identified that use of pediocin containing broth in conjunction with eugenol incorporated PHB film could function in synergized form, providing effective hurdle toward food contaminating microorganisms. Furthermore, tensile strength, percent crystallinity, melting point, percent elongation to break, glass transition temperature, and seal strength of the PHB film with and without eugenol incorporation were investigated. The migration of eugenol on exposure to different liquid food simulants was also analyzed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The study is expected to provide applications for pediocin in conjunction with eugenol containing PHB film to enhance the shelf life of foods in the

The effects of BCG-PSN on T-cell subsets and cytokines in vernal conjunctivitis were observed. The level of total IgE was quantitatively determined before and after treatment with BCGPSN by allergen diagnostic instrument in vitro. The content of T-cell subsets of peripheral blood and cytokine were determined by using indirect immune fluorescence method, and IL-4 and INF-γ were quantified by ELISA. The results showed that the level of total IgE was substantially reduced (P＜0.01) after treatment in the BCG-PSN group. Meanwhile, CD8+ was decreased, CD4+ and CD4+/CD8+ratio elevated with significant differences (P＜0. 05) as compared with pre-treatment results. The changes in total IgE, CD+8 ,CD4+ and CD4+/CD+8 ratio after treatment also presented significant differences (P＜0. 05) between BCG-PSN group and routine treatment group. The level of IL-4 in serum declined (P＜0. 05) after treatment in the BCG-PSN group, and INF-γ went up (P＜0.05). IL-4and INF-γ in serum showed significant differences (P＜0. 05) between two groups after treatment.It is concluded that BCG-PSN has a bi-directional immunoregulating effect. It can bring CD4+ and CD+8- into homeostasis, thereby preventing the occurrence of anaphylaxis. At the same time, BCGPSN can restrain Th2, decrease the synthesis of IL-4, switch the balance of Th1/Th2 to Th1 side,boost up the predominance of Th1 relatively, which is propitious to perennial stabilization and recov cry of vernal conjunctivitis.

The power usage of CubeSat's onboard systems has increased with the complexity of the systems included. This paper presents a deployment system design which creates a plane of solar panels to collect energy. This allows more panels to be in direct normal sunlight at any given point (in conjunction with the onboard attitude determination and control system), facilitating increased power generation. The deployable system is comprised of a printed circuit board (holding the solar cells) which is attached to an aluminum hinge. The efficacy of this approach for power generation and its simplicity, as compared to other prospective approaches, are assessed herein.

Halvonova, Barbora [Department of Building Services, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, 813 68 Bratislava (Slovakia); International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy, Department of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (Denmark); Melikov, Arsen K. [International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy, Department of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (Denmark)

2010-02-15

The performance of the novel ''ductless'' personalized ventilation in conjunction with displacement ventilation (DV) was compared with the performance of DV alone under realistic conditions involving disturbances due to walking of one or two persons. An office room with two workstations was arranged in a full-scale test room. Two thermal manikins were used as sedentary occupants at the workstations. Two pollution sources, namely exhaled air by one of the manikins and passive pollution on the table in front of the same manikin were simulated. The performance of the ventilation systems was evaluated with regard to the quality of inhaled air and thermal comfort of the seated ''occupants''. The walking person(s) caused mixing of the clean and cool air near the floor with the polluted and warmer air at higher levels and disturbed the displacement principle which resulted in a decrease of the inhaled air quality. The performance of the ''ductless'' PV under the tested conditions was better as opposed to DV alone. Thus in practice the ''ductless'' PV will be superior to DV alone as regards perceived quality of inhaled air. The location of a walking person was found to be important. Person(s) walking close to the displacement diffuser will cause greater disturbance. (author)

We report four patients with chronic kidney disease undergoing haemodialysis therapy, which had exhausted conventional venous access (internal jugular, subclavian) and non-conventional access (axillary, innominate) in the upper hemithorax for haemodialysis. This was primarily due to thrombosis of these veins caused by previous catheterisation. These patients did not qualify for peritoneal dialysis. Using the technique recommended by Archundia et al., 4 indwelling catheters were implanted directly in the superior vena cava in each of the patients with subsequent subcutaneous tunneling. The catheters operated correctly and are currently permeable after being used for an average of 19 months.

A comparison of two methods of delivering thermal energy to regolith for the carbo thermal reduction process has been performed. The comparison concludes that electrical resistance heating is superior to direct solar energy via solar concentrators for the following reasons: (1) the resistance heating method can process approximately 12 times as much regolith using the same amount of thermal energy as the direct solar energy method because of superior thermal insulation; (2) the resistance heating method is more adaptable to nearer-term robotic exploration precursor missions because it does not require a solar concentrator system; (3) crucible-based methods are more easily adapted to separation of iron metal and glass by-products than direct solar energy because the melt can be poured directly after processing instead of being remelted; and (4) even with projected improvements in the mass of solar concentrators, projected photovoltaic system masses are expected to be even lower.

We analyse the creation of chameleons deep inside the sun and their subsequent conversion to photons near the magnetised surface of the sun. We find that the spectrum of the regenerated photons lies in the soft X-ray region, hence addressing the solar corona problem. Moreover, these back-converted photons originating from chameleons have an intrinsic difference with regenerated photons from axions: their relative polarisations are mutually orthogonal before Compton interacting with the surrounding plasma. Depending on the photon-chameleon coupling and working in the strong coupling regime of the chameleons to matter, we find that the induced photon flux, when regenerated resonantly with the surrounding plasma, coincides with the solar flux within the soft X-ray energy range. Moreover, using the soft X-ray solar flux as a prior, we find that with a strong enough photon-chameleon coupling the chameleons emitted by the sun could lead to a regenerated photon flux in the CAST pipes, which could be within the reach...

Allergic disorders of the ocular surface are primarily characterized as IgE- and/or T-lymphocyte-mediated disorders that affect the cornea, conjunctiva, and eyelid. Approximately 40% of individuals in the developed countries have allergic conjunctivitis, and as such, it is the most common form of ocular allergy. Seasonal allergic conjunctivitis is the most prevalent type of allergic conjunctivitis that impacts the quality of life of patients. This article reviews the pharmacology, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, clinical trials, clinical efficacy, and safety of alcaftadine. Histamine and the pathological mechanism of ocular allergy will be briefly reviewed with the intent of providing a background for the detailed discussion on the clinical utility of alcaftadine in allergic conjunctivitis. The Medline PubMed, Elsevier Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases were used to search for evidence-based literature on histamine and immunopathological mechanism of allergic conjunctivitis, as well as on pharmacology, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, clinical trials, and clinical efficacy of alcaftadine. The treatment and management goals of allergic conjunctivitis are to prevent or minimize the inflammatory cascade associated with allergic response in the early stages of the pathological mechanism. It is of note that activation of histamine receptors on immune and nonimmune cells are associated with allergen-induced inflammation of the conjunctiva and its associated ocular allergic manifestations, including itching, edema, hyperemia, and tearing. Alcaftadine is an efficacious multiple action antiallergic therapeutic agent with inverse agonist activity on H1, H2, and H4 receptors, as well as anti-inflammatory and mast cell stabilizing effects that could provide therapeutic benefits to patients with allergic conjunctivitis.

We are glad to announce the Special Issue “Nanostructured Solar Cells”, published in Nanomaterials. This issue consists of eight articles, two communications, and one review paper, covering major important aspects of nanostructured solar cells of varying types. From fundamental physicochemical investigations to technological advances, and from single junction solar cells (silicon solar cell, dye sensitized solar cell, quantum dots sensitized solar cell, and small molecule organic solar cell) to tandem multi-junction solar cells, all aspects are included and discussed in this issue to advance the use of nanotechnology to improve the performance of solar cells with reduced fabrication costs.

We are glad to announce the Special Issue "Nanostructured Solar Cells", published in Nanomaterials. This issue consists of eight articles, two communications, and one review paper, covering major important aspects of nanostructured solar cells of varying types. From fundamental physicochemical investigations to technological advances, and from single junction solar cells (silicon solar cell, dye sensitized solar cell, quantum dots sensitized solar cell, and small molecule organic solar cell) to tandem multi-junction solar cells, all aspects are included and discussed in this issue to advance the use of nanotechnology to improve the performance of solar cells with reduced fabrication costs.

Early Solar Physics reviews developments in solar physics, particularly the advent of solar spectroscopy and the discovery of relationships between the various layers of the solar atmosphere and between the different forms of solar activity. Topics covered include solar observations during 1843; chemical analysis of the solar atmosphere; the spectrum of a solar prominence; and the solar eclipse of December 12, 1871. Spectroscopic observations of the sun are also presented. This book is comprised of 30 chapters and begins with an overview of ideas about the sun in the mid-nineteenth century, fo

similar potential increases in payload functionality. Thus it can be seen that even a small electrical efficiency increase in PV cell design can...solar energy, having been converted by plants through photosynthesis to carbohydrates and cellulose, sometimes by animals into more carbohydrates and...shown in Figure 11. A configuration of contacts and ARC similar to the PV cell were employed for testing of the single TPV cell . Figure 11. Sample

Disinfection with solar energy has been in practice for centuries. This article uses this old technology and builds on some of its unique features in order to develop an effective method of bioremediation. Recently, a strain of thermophilic bacteria was isolated from the environment of the United Arab Emirates. These bacteria show extraordinary resistance to heat and have their maximum growth rate around 80{sup o}C. They are found to be extremely efficient in remediating petroleum contaminants in the presence of high salinity water (simulated seawater). This article investigates the potential of using these facultative bacteria in a bioreactor in conjunction with solar irradiation. The bioreactor, recently developed at the UAE University, uses air flow through a transverse perforated pipe in order to create effective mixing, leading to optimum growth environment for bacteria. Solar energy is used in two ways. UV radiation from the sun destroys most pathogens and creates an environment that offers little competition for the thermophilic bacteria that cannot be destroyed with the UV. Also, the second advantage of the solar energy is the increase in temperature of the reactor water to a level that is more suitable for growth of the thermophilic bacteria. Heat also decreases the viscosity and interfacial tension of the petroleum contaminant, leading to the profuse emulsification. Emulsification makes more bacteria available to the petroleum contaminant and enhances bioremediation. Detailed pictorial visualization performed with a computer image analyzer showed the extinction of bacteria other than the useful thermophilic bacteria and helped measure their growth. Finally, mathematical models are developed for determining the degradation rate in the presence of solar exposure. Corrections are made to accommodate both the effects of temperature, salinity, and solar intensity. To the best of the knowledge of the authors, this coupling has not been done before. Predictive

Modeling solar cell performance for a specific radiation environment to obtain the end-of-life photovoltaic array performance has become both increasingly important and, with the rapid advent of new types of cell technology, more difficult. For large constellations of satellites, a few percent difference in the lifetime prediction can have an enormous economic impact. The tool described here automates the assessment of solar array on-orbit end-of-life performance and assists in the development and design of ground test protocols for different solar cell designs. Once established, these protocols can be used to calculate on-orbit end-of-life performance from ground test results. The Solar Array Verification Analysis Tool (SAVANT) utilizes the radiation environment from the Environment Work Bench (EWB) model developed by the NASA Lewis Research Center s Photovoltaic and Space Environmental Effects Branch in conjunction with Maxwell Technologies. It then modifies and combines this information with the displacement damage model proposed by Summers et al. (ref. 1) of the Naval Research Laboratory to determine solar cell performance during the course of a given mission. The resulting predictions can then be compared with flight data. The Environment WorkBench (ref. 2) uses the NASA AE8 (electron) and AP8 (proton) models of the radiation belts to calculate the trapped radiation flux. These fluxes are integrated over the defined spacecraft orbit for the duration of the mission to obtain the total omnidirectional fluence spectra. Components such as the solar cell coverglass, adhesive, and antireflective coatings can slow and attenuate the particle fluence reaching the solar cell. In SAVANT, a continuous slowing down approximation is used to model this effect.

Standard solar models (SSM) are facing nowadays a new puzzle: the solar composition problem. New determinations of solar metal abundances lead SSM calculations to conflict with helioseismological measurements, showing discrepancies that extend from the convection zone to the solar core and can not be easily assigned to deficiencies in the modelling of the solar convection zone. We present updated solar neutrino fluxes and uncertainties for two SSM with high (old) and low (new) solar metallicity determinations. The uncertainties in iron and carbon abundances are the largest contribution to the uncertainties of the solar neutrino fluxes. The uncertainty on the ^14N+p -> ^15O+g rate is the largest of the non-composition uncertainties to the CNO neutrino fluxes. We propose an independent method to help identify which SSM is the correct one. Present neutrino data can not distinguish the solar neutrino predictions of both models but ongoing measurements can help to solve the puzzle.

We discuss a fatal complication of percutaneous superior vena cava (SVC) self-expandable stent placement in a patient with superior vena cava syndrome (SVCS). The SVCS was caused by a malignant mediastinal mass with total occlusion of the SVC. Twenty-four hours after the procedure, the patient died

The patient of 52-year-old smoker was admitted in emergency with headaches, dyspnea, oedema and cyanosis of the cephalic extremity and of the superior members. This signs and symptoms suggest a superior vena cava sindrom. Thoracic CT scan shows the thrombosis of the superior vena cava and a tumor localized in the Bariety's Lodge of about 30/40 mm witch is around the right lateral wall of the traheea.This tumor is also tangent to the superior the superior vena cava. The patient was operated by total median sternotomy. By this approach we performed a complete excision of the mediastinal tumor mass. After that we effected a longitudinal cavotomy, we took out the endoluminal clot and we sutured the superior vena cava. The histological diagnosis of the mediastinal tumor was adenocarcinoma tubular-papillary moderately differentiated. The evolution post operative period was favorable the superior vena cava sindrom was a complet remission. The thoracic CT scan control after 9 months later didn't show a local relapse and blood flow was normally throw the superior vena cava.

We discuss a fatal complication of percutaneous superior vena cava (SVC) self-expandable stent placement in a patient with superior vena cava syndrome (SVCS). The SVCS was caused by a malignant mediastinal mass with total occlusion of the SVC. Twenty-four hours after the procedure, the patient died

Acute conjunctivitis is the most common ocular disorders among children and frequently concomitant with acute otitis media (AOM) as conjunctivitis-otitis syndrome. In this study, we evaluated prevalence of causative pathogens and PCR-based genotypes of Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae among children with conjunctivitis-otitis media syndrome. Nontypeable H. influenzae (NTHi) is identified most often at 61.8% in conjunctiva exudates followed by S. pneumoniae at 28.2% and Moraxella catarrhalis at 19.1%. Genetic β-lactamase nonproducing ampicillin resistant (gBLNAR) strains of NTHi and genetic penicillin resistant S. pneumoniae (gPRSP) were identified at 72.1% and at 74.2% among conjunctiva isolates by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), respectively. Pneumococcal strains having either ermB or mefE genes were identified at 93.5% among conjunctiva isolates. The restriction fragment of patterns of 89.7% pairs of H. influenzae isolates and 100% pairs of pneumococcal isolates from conjunctiva exudates, middle ear fluids (MEFs) and nasopharyngeal swabs were identical. In contrast to the previous reports, most prevalent strains from conjunctivitis-otitis media syndrome was BLNAR H. influenzae in this study. The causative pathogen responsible for acute conjunctivitis will be originated from the nasopharynx. In the absence of MEFs one can possibly rely on the nasopharyngeal culture to guide an appropriate treatment.

This article discusses current practice in the treatment of conjunctivitis and how the use of topical moxifloxacin can increase therapeutic effectiveness, reduce treatment failures and, consequently, be cost effective and reduce the societal burden of the disorder. Current practice and effectiveness data were derived from the literature. Data on healthcare utilization as a result of treatment failure were collected by survey and the cost of treatment was defined using national costings. A decision-analytic model to assess cost effectiveness was developed and the impact on the healthcare budget was calculated to define the health economic impact. Bacterial conjunctivitis represents a significant health problem and accounts for an estimated 1-1.5% of primary-care consultations. The disorder is highly contagious and causes a substantial healthcare and societal burden. Bacterial conjunctivitis is generally self-limiting, resolving within 1-2 weeks. However, the use of antibacterials significantly improves clinical and microbiological remission, shortens symptom duration, and enables more effective use of healthcare resources, compared with placebo. From a health economic perspective this benefits the healthcare system and society, since fewer healthcare resources are needed and the adult affected, or the parent/caregiver of the child affected, can return to full work capacity sooner, reducing loss of productivity. Treatment strategies vary significantly between countries. Most patients are first seen in primary care, where 'wait-and-see', lubrification and antiseptic or antibacterial treatment is provided. In Europe, when antibacterials are prescribed most general practitioners (GPs) prescribe a broad-spectrum topical antibacterial. The most commonly used drugs are chloramphenicol and fusidic acid, with fluoroquinolones rarely reported as first-line treatment by GPs. At the specialist (ophthalmologist) level, or for second-line treatment at the GP level, topical

Objective The superior transvelar approach is used to access pathologies located in the fourth ventricle and brainstem. The surgical path is below the venous structures, through the superior medullary velum. Following splitting the tentorial edge, near the tentorial apex, the superior medullary velum is split in the cerebello-mesencephalic fissure. Using the supracerebellar infratentorial, transtentorial or parietal interhemispheric routes, the superior medullary velum is approached. Splitting this velum provides a detailed view of the fourth ventricle and its floor. Materials and Methods A total of 10 formalin-fixed specimens were dissected in a stepwise manner to simulate the superior transvelar approach to the fourth ventricle. The exposure gained the distance from the craniotomy site and the ease of access was assessed for each of the routes. We also present an illustrative case, operated by the senior author (AN). Results The superior transvelar approach provides access to the entire length of the fourth ventricle floor, from the aqueduct to the obex, when using the parietal interhemispheric route. In addition, this approach provides access to the entire width of the floor of the fourth ventricle; however, this requires retracting the superior cerebellar peduncle. Using the supracerebellar infratentorial route gives a limited exposure of the superior part of the fourth ventricle. The occipital interhemispheric route is a compromise between these two. Conclusion The superior transvelar approach to the fourth ventricle provides a route for approaching the fourth ventricle from above. This approach does not require opening the posterior fossa in the traditional way, and provides a reasonable alternative for accessing the superior fourth ventricle.

Optimal management of conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater has been attempted with different algorithms in the literature. In this study, a hydro-economic modelling approach to optimize conjunctive use of scarce surface water and groundwater resources under uncertainty is presented. A stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) approach is used to minimize the basin-wide total costs arising from water allocations and water curtailments. Dynamic allocation problems with inclusion of groundwater resources proved to be more complex to solve with SDP than pure surface water allocation problems due to head-dependent pumping costs. These dynamic pumping costs strongly affect the total costs and can lead to non-convexity of the future cost function. The water user groups (agriculture, industry, domestic) are characterized by inelastic demands and fixed water allocation and water supply curtailment costs. As in traditional SDP approaches, one step-ahead sub-problems are solved to find the optimal management at any time knowing the inflow scenario and reservoir/aquifer storage levels. These non-linear sub-problems are solved using a genetic algorithm (GA) that minimizes the sum of the immediate and future costs for given surface water reservoir and groundwater aquifer end storages. The immediate cost is found by solving a simple linear allocation sub-problem, and the future costs are assessed by interpolation in the total cost matrix from the following time step. Total costs for all stages, reservoir states, and inflow scenarios are used as future costs to drive a forward moving simulation under uncertain water availability. The use of a GA to solve the sub-problems is computationally more costly than a traditional SDP approach with linearly interpolated future costs. However, in a two-reservoir system the future cost function would have to be represented by a set of planes, and strict convexity in both the surface water and groundwater dimension cannot be maintained

Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior — Priority development areas for utility-scale solar energy facilities as identified in the Solar PEIS Record of Decision. An additional Solar Energy Zone identified...

ARCO Solar manufactures PV Systems tailored to a broad variety of applications. PV arrays are routinely used at remote communications installations to operate large microwave repeaters, TV and radio repeaters rural telephone, and small telemetry systems that monitor environmental conditions. Also used to power agricultural water pumping systems, to provide electricity for isolated villages and medical clinics, for corrosion protection for pipelines and bridges, to power railroad signals, air/sea navigational aids, and for many types of military systems. ARCO is now moving into large scale generation for utilities.

The Vanguard I dish-Stirling module program, initiated in 1982, produced the Vanguard I module, a commercial prototype erected by the Advanco Corporation. The module, which automatically tracks the sun, combines JPL mirrored concentrator technology, an advanced Stirling Solar II engine/generator, a low cost microprocessor-controlled parabolic dish. Vanguard I has a 28% sunlight to electricity conversion efficiency. If tests continue to prove the system effective, Advanco will construct a generating plant to sell electricity to local utilities. An agreement has also been signed with McDonnell Douglas to manufacture a similar module.

After a discussion of solar greenhouse phenomena and the potential for heat collection and food production, design recommendations are provided for attached heat collecting solar sunspaces and for attached food producing solar greenhouses. Also, design of a single solar structure to maximize heat collection and food production is considered. A method of predicting the performance for attached heat collecting solar sunspaces is given in which the solar savings fraction is calculated. (LEW)

As an alternative to the photoelectrochemical water splitting for use in the fuel cells used to generate electrical power, this study set out to develop a solar energy rechargeable battery system based on photoelectrochemical water oxidation. We refer to this design as a “solar water battery”. The solar water battery integrates a photoelectrochemical cell and battery into a single device. It uses a water oxidation reaction to simultaneously convert and store solar energy. With the solar water battery, light striking the photoelectrode causes the water to be photo-oxidized, thus charging the battery. During the discharge process, the solar water battery reduces oxygen to water with a high coulombic efficiency (>90%) and a high average output voltage (0.6 V). Because the reduction potential of oxygen is more positive [E0 (O2/H2O) = 1.23 V vs. NHE] than common catholytes (e.g., iodide, sulfur), a high discharge voltage is produced. The solar water battery also exhibits a superior storage ability, maintaining 99% of its specific discharge capacitance after 10 h of storage, without any evidence of self-discharge. The optimization of the cell design and configuration, taking the presence of oxygen in the cell into account, was critical to achieving an efficient photocharge/discharge.

As an alternative to the photoelectrochemical water splitting for use in the fuel cells used to generate electrical power, this study set out to develop a solar energy rechargeable battery system based on photoelectrochemical water oxidation. We refer to this design as a "solar water battery". The solar water battery integrates a photoelectrochemical cell and battery into a single device. It uses a water oxidation reaction to simultaneously convert and store solar energy. With the solar water battery, light striking the photoelectrode causes the water to be photo-oxidized, thus charging the battery. During the discharge process, the solar water battery reduces oxygen to water with a high coulombic efficiency (>90%) and a high average output voltage (0.6 V). Because the reduction potential of oxygen is more positive [E(0) (O2/H2O) = 1.23 V vs. NHE] than common catholytes (e.g., iodide, sulfur), a high discharge voltage is produced. The solar water battery also exhibits a superior storage ability, maintaining 99% of its specific discharge capacitance after 10 h of storage, without any evidence of self-discharge. The optimization of the cell design and configuration, taking the presence of oxygen in the cell into account, was critical to achieving an efficient photocharge/discharge.

The Clean Air Now (CAN) Solar Hydrogen Project, located at Xerox Corp., El Segundo, California, includes solar photovoltaic powered hydrogen generation, compression, storage and end use. Three modified Ford Ranger trucks use the hydrogen fuel. The stand-alone electrolyzer and hydrogen dispensing system are solely powered by a photovoltaic array. A variable frequency DC-AC converter steps up the voltage to drive the 15 horsepower compressor motor. On site storage is available for up to 14,000 standard cubic feet (SCF) of solar hydrogen, and up to 80,000 SCF of commercial hydrogen. The project is 3 miles from Los Angeles International airport. The engine conversions are bored to 2.9 liter displacement and are supercharged. Performance is similar to that of the Ranger gasoline powered truck. Fuel is stored in carbon composite tanks (just behind the driver`s cab) at pressures up to 3600 psi. Truck range is 144 miles, given 3600 psi of hydrogen. The engine operates in lean burn mode, with nil CO and HC emissions. NO{sub x} emissions vary with load and rpm in the range from 10 to 100 ppm, yielding total emissions at a small fraction of the ULEV standard. Two trucks have been converted for the Xerox fleet, and one for the City of West Hollywood. A public outreach program, done in conjunction with the local public schools and the Department of Energy, introduces the local public to the advantages of hydrogen fuel technologies. The Clean Air Now program demonstrates that hydrogen powered fleet development is an appropriate, safe, and effective strategy for improvement of urban air quality, energy security and avoidance of global warming impact. Continued technology development and cost reduction promises to make such implementation market competitive.

The dependency of surface- or groundwater flows and aquifer hydraulic properties on dewatering-induced layer deformation is not available in the USGS's groundwater model MODFLOW. A new integrated hydrologic model, MODFLOW-OWHM, formulates this dependency by coupling mesh deformation with aquifer transmissivity and storage and by linking land subsidence/uplift with deformation-dependent flows that also depend on aquifer head and other flow terms. In a test example, flows most affected were stream seepage and evapotranspiration from groundwater (ETgw). Deformation feedback also had an indirect effect on conjunctive surface- and groundwater use components: Changed stream seepage and streamflows influenced surface-water deliveries and returnflows. Changed ETgw affected irrigation demand, which jointly with altered surface-water supplies resulted in changed supplemental groundwater requirements and pumping and changed return runoff. This modeling feature will improve the impact assessment of dewatering-induced land subsidence/uplift (following irrigation pumping or coal-seam gas extraction) on surface receptors, inter-basin transfers, and surface-infrastructure integrity.

An epidemic of acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis affecting persons of all ages and both sexes occurred in Delhi and surrounding areas during the monsoon season of 1994. The symptoms lasted on an average for 4-5 days. In some of the patients corneal involvement was observed. Conjunctival swabs from the affected patients were processed for viral antigen detection, virus isolation and bacterial culture and sensitivity. Viral antigen was detected in 62% (31/50) of the smears tested by indirect immunofluorescence assay. In 22 (44%) of the specimens Coxackie A 24 (Cox A 24) virus antigen and in 9 (18%) of the specimens Entero Virus 70 (EV 70) antigen were detected. In confluent monolayers of Hep 2 cells cytopathic virus was isolated in 10 (30.30%) of the 33 specimens processed. The isolated viruses were identified as either Cox A 24 (7 isolates) or EV 70 (3 isolates) using indirect immunofluorescence assay. Super added bacterial infection was observed in 33% (89/270) of the cases, Staphylococcus albus being the predominant bacteria isolated.

Full Text Available An epidemic of acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis affecting persons of all ages and both sexes occurred in Delhi and surrounding areas during the monsoon season of 1994. The symptoms lasted on an average for 4-5 days. In some of the patients corneal involvement was observed. Conjunctival swabs from the affected patients were processed for viral antigen detection, virus isolation and bacterial culture and sensitivity. Viral antigen was detected in 62% (31/50 of the smears tested by indirect immunofluorescence assay. In 22 (44% of the specimens Coxackie A 24 (Cox A 24 virus antigen and in 9 (18% of the specimens Entero Virus 70 (EV 70 antigen were detected. In confluent monolayers of Hep 2 cells cytopathic virus was isolated in 10 (30.30% of the 33 specimens processed. The isolated viruses were identified as either Cox A 24 (7 isolates or EV 70 (3 isolates using indirect immunofluorescence assay. Super added bacterial infection was observed in 33% (89/270 of the cases, Staphylococcus albus being the predominant bacteria isolated.

We present in this paper multi-instrumental observations and analyses of fast earthward flows, electrostatic electron cyclotron harmonic (ECH) waves, and diffuse auroras, during 8-9 UT on February 5, 2009. The event began with a series of fast earthward flows detected on mid-tail probe THEMIS-C. Subsequently, magnetic dipolarizations and strong ECH wave intensifications were observed on THEMIS-D/E probes at L ˜ 11 in the equatorial plasma sheet. Concurrently, Ground optical instruments detected diffuse auroral intensifications in the region surrounding the ionospheric footprints of the THEMIS probes. Together with the theoretical simulation performed by Ni et al. (2011e), we establish a causal conjunction between the ECH waves and diffuse auroras for the reported event. We also propose that the ECH wave and diffuse auroral intensification were likely triggered by the fast flow activity from the mid-tail and its resulting magnetic dipolarization. We discuss possible mechanisms linking the fast flow and its associated dipolarization to the intensification of ECH wave and diffuse aurora in the outer magnetosphere.

Background. Bile contamination from the digestive tract is a well-known risk factor for postoperative complications. Despite the literature concerning prevalence of bacterobilia and fungobilia in patients with biliary pathologies, there are no specific recommendations for perioperative antimicrobial coverage for biliary/pancreatic procedures. We evaluated the effect of at least 72 hours of perioperative broad spectrum antibiotic coverage on outcomes of pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD). Materials and Methods. A retrospective review of all patients at Case Medical Center of Case Western Reserve University undergoing PD procedure, from 2006 to 2011, was performed (n = 122). Perioperative data including demographics, comorbidities, biliary instrumentation, antibiotic coverage, culture results, and postoperative outcomes were analyzed. Propensity score matching method was used to match the patients according to duration of antibiotic coverage into two groups: 72 hours (A72) and 24 hours (A24). Results. Longer broad spectrum antibiotic coverage in group A72 resulted in significantly less surgical site infections after PD, compared to routine 24 hours of perioperative antibiotics in group A24. This study did not reveal a statistically significant decrease in postoperative fungal infections in patients receiving preoperative antifungals. Conclusion. Prolonged perioperative antibiotic therapy in conjunction with intraoperative bile cultures decreases the short-term infectious complications of PD, with no significant increase in Clostridium difficile colitis incidence. PMID:27147813

A Linked Simulation-Optimization (LSO) model based on a Clonal Selection Algorithm (CSA) was formulated for application in conjunctive irrigation management. A series of measures were considered for reducing the computational burden associated with the LSO approach. Certain modifications were incurred to the formulated CSA, so as to decrease the number of function evaluations. In addition, a simple problem specific code for a two dimensional groundwater flow simulation model was developed. The flow model was further simplified by a novel approach of area reduction, in order to save computational time in simulation. The LSO model was applied in the irrigation command of the Pagladiya Dam Project in Assam, India. With a view to evaluate the performance of the CSA, a Genetic Algorithm (GA) was used as a comparison base. The results from the CSA compared well with those from the GA. In fact, the CSA was found to consume less computational time than the GA while converging to the optimal solution, due to the modifications incurred in it.

We describe a large outbreak of severe pustular conjunctivitis due to Neiserria gonorrhoeae. Over 9,000 cases occurred during 8 months in 1987-1988 in one district in North Omo, Ethiopia. Both sexes and all age groups were affected, particularly children under 5 years of age; only a small minority were neonates. Despite a highly successful cure rate for individual cases, the outbreak continued for a number of months. Several epidemiologic approaches were used to monitor the outbreak and identify the mechanism of transmission. The epidemic curve suggested person-to-person transmission. Routine surveillance data showed that there was no concurrent genital gonorrhea outbreak and genital transmission could not explain a community-wide outbreak. In the setting of intense crowding and relative lack of water, peak transmission of illness coincided with two periods following the rains, suggesting that flies were important in transmission. A case-control study identified lack of face-washing as a household risk factor. Eighty seven of one-hundred and forty six (59%) control houses with children were judged to contain children with clean faces, while only 102 of 216 (47%) case households contained children with clean faces (p less than .05). Our recommendations include measures to improve personal hygiene.

The dependency of surface- and groundwater flows and aquifer hydraulic properties on deformation induced by changes in aquifer head is not accounted for in the standard version of MODFLOW. A new USGS integrated hydrologic model, MODFLOW-OWHM, incorporates this dependency by linking subsidence and mesh deformation with changes in aquifer transmissivity and storage coefficient, and with flows that also depend on aquifer characteristics and land-surface geometry. This new deformation-dependent approach is being used for the further development of the integrated Central Valley hydrologic model (CVHM) in California. Preliminary results from this application and from hypothetical test cases of similar systems show that changes in canal flows, stream seepage, and evapotranspiration from groundwater (ETgw) are sensitive to deformation. Deformation feedback has been shown to also have an indirect effect on conjunctive surface- and groundwater use components with increased stream seepage and streamflows influencing surface-water deliveries and return flows. In the Central Valley model, land subsidence may significantly degrade the ability of the major canals to deliver surface water from the Delta to the San Joaquin and Tulare basins. Subsidence can also affect irrigation demand and ETgw, which, along with altered surface-water supplies, causes a feedback response resulting in changed estimates of groundwater pumping for irrigation. This modeling feature also may improve the impact assessment of dewatering-induced land subsidence/uplift (following irrigation pumping or coal-seam gas extraction) on surface receptors, inter-basin transfers, and surface infrastructure integrity.

Visual-spatial strengths observed among people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be associated with increased efficiency of selective attention mechanisms such as visual search. In a series of studies, researchers examined the visual search of targets that share features with distractors in a visual array and concluded that people with ASD showed enhanced performance on visual search tasks. However, methodological limitations, the small sample sizes, and the lack of developmental analysis have tempered the interpretations of these results. In this study, we specifically addressed age-related changes in visual search. We examined conjunctive visual search in groups of children with (n = 34) and without ASD (n = 35) at 7-9 years of age when visual search performance is beginning to improve, and later, at 10-12 years, when performance has improved. The results were consistent with previous developmental findings; 10- to 12-year-old children were significantly faster visual searchers than their 7- to 9-year-old counterparts. However, we found no evidence of enhanced search performance among the children with ASD at either the younger or older ages. More research is needed to understand the development of visual search in both children with and without ASD.

Quantum models of concept combinations have been successful in representing various experimental situations that cannot be accommodated by traditional models based on classical probability or fuzzy set theory. In many cases, the focus has been on producing a representation that fits experimental results to validate quantum models. However, these representations are not always consistent with the cognitive modeling principles. Moreover, some important issues related to the representation of concepts such as the dimensionality of the realization space, the uniqueness of solutions, and the compatibility of measurements, have been overlooked. In this paper, we provide a dimensional analysis of the realization space for the two-sector Fock space model for conjunction of concepts focusing on the first and second sectors separately. We then introduce various representation of concepts that arise from the use of unitary operators in the realization space. In these concrete representations, a pair of concepts and their combination are modeled by a single conceptual state, and by a collection of exemplar-dependent operators. Therefore, they are consistent with cognitive modeling principles. This framework not only provides a uniform approach to model an entire data set, but, because all measurement operators are expressed in the same basis, allows us to address the question of compatibility of measurements. In particular, we present evidence that it may be possible to predict non-commutative effects from partial measurements of conceptual combinations. PMID:26617556

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of calcium sulphate on various osseous defects when used in conjunction with apicectomy. Mandibular third and fourth premolars of 11 beagle dogs were used. After root-canal treatment and apicectomy, three types of osseous defects were prepared on both sides of the mandible as follows: type 1, osseous defect communicating with the gingival sulcus: type 2, large osseous defect including two roots; type 3, 'through and through' osseous defect. The experimental side was allocated randomly, and the osseous defects were filled with medical grade calcium sulphate. The defects on the opposite side were left unfilled as controls. The dogs were sacrificed at 8 and 16 weeks postoperatively. Undemineralized sections were obtained and examined histomorphometrically. In type 1 defects, bone was not observed on the buccal side of the root on either experimental or control side at 8 and 16 weeks. In both type 2 and 3 defects, bone volume/tissue volume (BV/TV) values on the experimental side were significantly higher than those on the control side (P < 0.01), and mineral apposition rate (MAR) values on the experimental side were significantly higher than those on the control side (P < 0.01). The use of calcium sulphate was effective in bone regeneration on both large osseous defects and 'through and through' osseous defects. It was less effective in osseous defects communicating with the gingival sulcus.

In thermal barrier coatings (TBC), ceramics is covered on the metal matrix as coatings in order to raise its temperature endurance. Today most of the TBCs are of the double-layer-struc- ture of Ni base heat-resistant alloy matrix + the bonding layer of MCrAlY alloy (M = Ni, Co, Ni + Co) + ZrO2. In this paper, the concept of interface conjunction factor (ICF) in the biphase interface of alloys is expanded to coatings. The ICFs of the interface between the ceramics and the bonding layers with various compositions, such as the electron density ρ, the electron density difference △ρ, and the number of atom state group which keeps the electron density continuous σ are calculated. From the calculation results, the following estimations can be deduced. When Al content is less than 6 wt% it improves the mechanical properties of the coatings; when the content is 6 wt%-12 wt% it will not worsen the properties; when the content is greater than 12 wt% it will have disadvantageous effect. The estimations accord well with the experiment results of the properties and the service time of the coatings. Therefore the concept of ICF has the same important meaning in coatings, and the valence electron structure of the interface can be a possible theoretical guide for the content optimization of TBCs.

The perirhinal cortex was once thought to be "silent cortex", virtually ignored by researchers interested in the neurobiology of learning and memory. Following studies of brain damage associated with cases of amnesia, perirhinal cortex is now widely regarded as part of a "medial temporal lobe (MTL) memory system". This system is thought to be more or less functionally homogeneous, having a special role in declarative memory, and making little or no contribution to other functions such as perception. In the present article, we summarize an alternative view. First, we propose that components of the putative MTL system such as the hippocampus and perirhinal cortex have distinct and dissociable functions. Second, we provide evidence that the perirhinal cortex has a role in visual discrimination. In addition, we propose a specific role for perirhinal cortex in visual discrimination: the contribution of complex conjunctive representations to the solution of visual discrimination problems with a high degree of "feature ambiguity". These proposals constitute a new view of perirhinal cortex function, one that does not assume strict modularity of function in the occipito-temporal visual stream, but replaces this idea with the notion of a hierarchical representational continuum.

Some hospital comparisons seem to generate confusion because different methods of outcome comparisons lead to different results in hospital rankings. This article questions the concept of overall comparisons of hospitals, which are multiproduct enterprises and may have specialties that provide good results in some areas despite having worse outcomes in others. Therefore, the authors argue for a disease specific view of outcome measurement. The concept of the German Inpatient Quality Indicators is explained. These indicators cover volume, mortality, and other information by a disease specific approach, which includes information for potential patients as well as specific feedback to the physicians responsible for the respective specialty. This article focuses on the feedback to the hospitals and explains how these indicators can be used for improvement in conjunction with a peer review process. The indicators provide information to the hospitals regarding their relative position because German reference values are available for all indicators. Thus, the indicators can serve as a trigger instrument for identifying possible quality problems. Based on these indications, peer review can be used to analyze the treatment processes and to eventually verify weaknesses and define actions for improvement. The first studies indicate that the use of this approach within hospital quality management can largely improve hospital outcomes in hospitals with subpar results compared to the German average.

Calibrated in kilowatt hours per square meter, the solar counter produced by Dodge Products, Inc. provides a numerical count of the solar energy that has accumulated on a surface. Solar energy sensing, measuring and recording devices in corporate solar cell technology developed by Lewis Research Center. Customers for their various devices include architects, engineers and others engaged in construction and operation of solar energy facilities; manufacturers of solar systems or solar related products, such as glare reducing windows; and solar energy planners in federal and state government agencies.

Solar desalination driven by solar radiation as heat source is freely available, however, hindered by low efficiency. Herein, we first design and synthesize black titania with a unique nanocage structure simultaneously with light trapping effect to enhance light harvesting, well-crystallized interconnected nanograins to accelerate the heat transfer from titania to water and with opening mesopores (4-10 nm) to facilitate the permeation of water vapor. Furthermore, the coated self-floating black titania nanocages film localizes the temperature increase at the water-air interface rather than uniformly heating the bulk of the water, which ultimately results in a solar-thermal conversion efficiency as high as 70.9% under a simulated solar light with an intensity of 1 kW m(-2) (1 sun). This finding should inspire new black materials with rationally designed structure for superiorsolar desalination performance.

Photocurrent generation in nanostructured organic solar cells is simulated using a dynamical Monte Carlo model that includes the generation and transport properties of both excitons and free charges. Incorporating both optical and electrical properties, we study the influence of the heterojunction nanostructure (e.g., planar vs bulk junctions) on donor-acceptor organic solar cell efficiencies based on the archetype materials copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) and C(60). Structures considered are planar and planar-mixed heterojunctions, homogeneous and phase-separated donor-acceptor (DA) mixtures, idealized structures composed of DA pillars, and nanocrystalline DA networks. The thickness dependence of absorption, exciton diffusion, and carrier collection efficiencies is studied for different morphologies, yielding results similar to those experimentally observed. The influences of charge mobility and exciton diffusion length are studied, and optimal device thicknesses are proposed for various structures. Simulations show that, with currently available materials, nanocrystalline network solar cells optimize both exciton diffusion and carrier collection, thus providing for highly efficient solar energy conversion. Estimations of achievable energy conversion efficiencies are made for the various nanostructures based on current simulations used in conjunction with experimentally obtained fill factors and open-circuit voltages for conventional small molecular weight materials combinations.

Brown syndrome is a rare strabismic disease characterized by a limited elevation in adduction of the eye. The lengthening/weakening of superior oblique muscle is the main way of surgical intervention for this disease. A 7-year-old boy was diagnosed as having acquired Brown syndrome in his right eye after injury in his face. We experienced successful release of this Brown syndrome through mere pulling outward of superior oblique tendon during surgical exploration. We briefly discuss why this manipulation of superior oblique tendon that we performed was successful.

The right superior vena cava draining into the left atrium is a rare malformation causing cyanosis and clubbing in patients in whom no other signs of congenital heart defect are present. Diagnosis may be difficult as cyanosis may be mild and the anomaly is not always easily detectable by echocardiography. For this reason we report a 13-month-old male in whom we confirmed the clinical and echocardiographic suspicion of anomalous drainage of the right superior vena cava using multidetector CT. This allowed successful surgical reconnection of the right superior vena cava to the right atrium. (orig.)

Quantum information systems are expected to exhibit superiority compared with their classical counterparts. This superiority arises from the quantum coherences present in these quantum systems, which are obviously absent in classical ones. To exploit such quantum coherences, it is essential to control the phase information in the quantum state. The phase is analogue in nature, rather than binary. This makes quantum information technology fundamentally different from our classical digital information technology. In this paper, we analyse error sources and illustrate how these errors must be managed for the system to achieve the required fidelity and a quantum superiority. This article is part of the themed issue 'Quantum technology for the 21st century'.

Solar Energy presents an introduction to all aspects of solar energy, from photovoltaic devices to active and passive solar thermal energy conversion, giving both a detailed and broad perspective of the field. It is aimed at the beginner involved in solar energy or a related field, or for someone wanting to gain a broader perspective of solar energy technologies. A chapter considering solar radiation, basic principles applied to solar energy, semiconductor physics, and light absorption brings the reader on equal footing with the technology of either solar generated electrical current or useful heat. Details of how a solar cell works and then production of current from a photovoltaic device is discussed. Characterization of a solar cell is examined, allowing one the ability to interpret the current-voltage relation, followed by discussion of parameter extraction from this relation. This information can be used to understand what limits the performance of a given solar cell with the potential to optimize its pe...

This module on solar and the weather is one of six in a series intended for use as supplements to currently available materials on solar energy and energy conservation. Together with the recommended texts and references (sources are identified), these modules provide an effective introduction to energy conservation and solar energy technologies.…

This module on solar system design fundamentals is one of six in a series intended for use as supplements to currently available materials on solar energy and energy conservation. Together with the recommended texts and references (sources are identified), these modules provide an effective introduction to energy conservation and solar energy…

We provide a summary of the current knowledge, theoretical and experimental, of solar neutrino fluxes and of the masses and mixing angles that characterize solar neutrino oscillations. We also summarize the principal reasons for doing new solar neutrino experiments and what we think may be learned from the future measurements.

As an extension of previous works on classical tests of Kaluza-Klein (KK) gravity and as an attempt to find more stringent constraints on this theory, its effects on physical experiments and astronomical observations conducted in the Solar System are studied. We investigate the gravitational time delay at inferior conjunction caused by KK gravity, and use new Solar System ephemerides and the observation of \\textit{Cassini} to strengthen constraints on KK gravity by up to two orders of magnitude. These improved upper bounds mean that the fifth-dimensional space in the soliton case is a very flat extra dimension in the Solar System, even in the vicinity of the Sun.

As an extension of previous works on classical tests of Kaluza-Klein (KK) gravity and as an attempt to find more stringent constraints on this theory, its effects on physical experiments and astronomical observations conducted in the Solar System are studied. We investigate the gravitational time delay at inferior conjunction caused by KK gravity, and use new Solar System ephemerides and the observation of Cassini to strengthen constraints on KK gravity by up to two orders of magnitude. These improved upper bounds mean that the fifth-dimensional space in the soliton case is a very flat extra dimension in the Solar System, even in the vicinity of the Sun. (orig.)

The first observations of the photoelectric effect date back to the early 19th century from work by Alexandre Edmond Becquerel, Heinrich Hertz, Wilhelm Hallwachs and J J Thomson. The theory behind the phenomena was clarified in a seminal paper by Einstein in 1905 and became an archetypical feature of the wave-particle description of light. A different manifestation of quantised electron excitation, whereby electrons are not emitted but excited into the valence band of the material, is what we call the photoconductive effect. As well as providing an extension to theories in fundamental physics, the phenomenon has spawned a field with enormous ramifications in the energy industry through the development of solar cells. Among advances in photovoltaic technology has been the development of organic photovoltaic technology. These devices have many benefits over their inorganic counterparts, such as light-weight, flexible material properties, as well as versatile materials' synthesis and low-cost large-scale production—all highly advantageous for manufacturing. The first organic photovoltaic systems were reported over 50 years ago [1], but the potential of the field has escalated in recent years in terms of efficiency, largely through band offsetting. Since then, great progress has been made in studies for optimising the efficiency of organic solar cells, such as the work by researchers in Germany and the Netherlands, where investigations were made into the percentage composition and annealing effects on composites of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and the fullerene derivative [6,6]-phenyl-C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) [2]. Hybrid devices that aim to exploit the advantages of both inorganic and organic constituents have also proven promising. One example of this is the work reported by researchers in Tunisia and France on a systematic study for optimising the composition morphology of TiO2 nanoparticles in poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK), which also led to insights

With the increasingly serious environmental problems, photocatalysis has recently attracted a great deal of attention, with particular focus on water and air purification and disinfection. Herein, we show an electroreduction strategy to improve significantly the solar absorption and donor density of BiOI nanosheet photocatalyst by introducing oxygen vacancies. These oxygen-deficient BiOI nanosheets exhibit an unexpected red shift of about 100 nm in light absorption band and 1 order of magnitude improvement in donor density compared to the untreated BiOI nanosheets and show 10 times higher photocatalytic activity than the untreated BiOI nanosheets for methyl orange (MO) degradation under visible light irradiation. Moreover, the as-prepared oxygen-deficient BiOI nanosheets also have excellent cycling stability and superior photocatalytic performance toward other dye pollutants.

Projected longer‐term droughts and intense floods underscore the need to store more water to manage climate extremes. Here we show how depleted aquifers have been used to store water by substituting surface water use for groundwater pumpage (conjunctive use, CU) or recharging groundwater with surface water (Managed Aquifer Recharge, MAR). Unique multi‐decadal monitoring from thousands of wells and regional modeling datasets for the California Central Valley and central Arizona were used to assess CU and MAR. In addition to natural reservoir capacity related to deep water tables, historical groundwater depletion further expanded aquifer storage by ~44 km3 in the Central Valley and by ~100 km3 in Arizona, similar to or exceeding current surface reservoir capacity by up to three times. Local river water and imported surface water, transported through 100s of km of canals, is substituted for groundwater (≤15 km3/yr, CU) or is used to recharge groundwater (MAR, ≤1.5 km3/yr) during wet years shifting to mostly groundwater pumpage during droughts. In the Central Valley, CU and MAR locally reversed historically declining water‐level trends, which contrasts with simulated net regional groundwater depletion. In Arizona, CU and MAR also reversed historically declining groundwater level trends in Active Management Areas. These rising trends contrast with current declining trends in irrigated areas that lack access to surface water to support CU or MAR. Use of depleted aquifers as reservoirs could expand with winter flood irrigation or capturing flood discharges to the Pacific (0 – 1.6 km3/yr, 2000–2014) with additional infrastructure in California. Because flexibility and expanded portfolio options translate to resilience, CU and MAR enhance drought resilience through multi‐year storage, complementing shorter term surface reservoir storage, and facilitating water markets.

In conjunction with synchrotron radiation, our capabilities in ultrasonic experiments have been greatly increased in multiple dimensions. The experimental set-up installed at X17B1 of NSLS at Brookhaven National Lab enables us to conduct simultaneous studies of sound wave velocity using ultrasonic interferomtery and crystal structure refinement using X-ray diffraction at the conditions of the Earth's mantle. In these experiments, a complete characterization of the sample, such as sample length and stress at high pressure and high temperature, can be quantitatively addressed. The stress is measured using multi-element/multi-position detectors mounted at fixed diffraction angle, while the sample length is recorded using X-ray imaging techniques. Measurements at high pressure and high temperature not only provide the determination of pressure derivatives of the elastic moduli without using secondary pressure standard, but also can be used to establish the absolute pressure scale. Higher order elastic constants can also be investigate with the current experimental set-up. We have successfully applied these advanced techniques to the study of the elastic properties of unquenchable mantle phases (Calcium silicate perovskite) and materials undergone phase transitions (pyroxenes), melting, plastic deformation, and multi-phase aggregate (KLB-1) at high pressure and temperature, in which the sample length can not be retrieved from other techniques. More over, the utilization of digital equipment provides fast data collection, enabling us to capture instant variation or the time dependence of the elastic properties under above circumstances. These new developments will bring us high quality elasticity data for mantle phases at Earth's mantle conditions, providing crucial information in interpreting seismic observations and constraining the composition of the Earth's interior.

Extracellular vesicle (EV) production is a universal feature of metazoan cells as well as prokaryotes (bMVs - bacterial microvesicls). They are small vesicles with phospholipid membrane carrying proteins, DNA and different classes of RNAs and are heavily involved in intercellular communication acting as vectors of information to target cells. For the last decade, the interest in EV research has exponentially increased though thorough studies of their roles in various pathologies that was not previously possible due to technical limitations.This review focuses on research evaluating the role of EV production in gastrointestinal (GI) cancer development in conjunction with GI microbiota and inflammatory diseases. We also discuss recent studies on the promising role of EVs and their content as biomarkers for early diagnosis of GI cancers. The bMVs have also been implicated in the pathogenesis of GI chronic inflammatory diseases, however, possible role of bMVs in tumorigenesis remains underestimated. We propose that EVs from eukaryotic cells as well as from different microbial, fungi, parasitic species and edible plants in GI tract act as mediators of intracellular and inter-species communication, particularly facilitating tumour cell survival and multi-drug resistance. In conclusion, we suggest that matching sequences from EV proteomes (available from public databases) with known protein sequences of microbiome gut bacteria will be useful in identification of antigen mimicry between evolutionary conservative protein sequences. Using this approach we identified Bacteroides spp. pseudokinase with activation loop and homology to PDGFRα, providing a proof-of-concept strategy. We speculate that existence of microbial pseudokinase that ‘mimic” PDGFRα may be related to PDGFRα and Bacteroides spp. roles in colorectal carcinogenesis that require further investigation.

We evaluated the feasibility of an automated tablet computer application providing a family and personal history based cancer risk assessment for hereditary breast, ovarian, endometrial and colorectal cancers. 1,002 women presenting for screening mammography and 1,000 presenting for ultrasound were offered screening. The application calculated the risk of BRCA mutations using BRCAPRO, Myriad and Tyrer-Cuzick risk assessment models. Lifetime risk of breast and ovarian cancer was assessed with the BRCAPRO, Claus and Tyrer-Cuzick models. Colorectal and endometrial cancer risk was calculated via the MMRpro model. Patients were identified as high-risk based on thresholds 10% or greater risk for carrying genetic mutations or 20% or greater lifetime risk of breast or ovarian cancer. The percent of women found to be high-risk by a single risk assessment tool ranged from 0.5 to 5.3%. Combining assessment tools found 9.3% of women to be high-risk. The risk assessments performed similarly for the mammography and ultrasound cohorts with yields (combining assessment tools) of 9.2 and 9.4% respectively. The average ages of all the high-risk women were 45.8 and 39.6 years for the mammography and ultrasound cohorts respectively. Difficulties encountered included a need for software upgrade, wireless network unreliability and hardware theft. Automated family history screening can identify women probably at high-risk for hereditary cancers efficiently. The number of women identified is increased by employing multiple risk assessment models simultaneously. Surveying women in conjunction with ultrasound identified women at increased risk as effectively and at a younger age than with screening mammography.

This study was to assess the porosity of Porous Asphalt Concrete (PAC) in conjunction with a medical X-ray computed tomography (CT) facility. The PAC was designed as the surface course to achieve the target porosity 18%. There were graded aggregates, soils blended with 50% of coarse sand, and crushed gravel wrapped with geotextile compacted and served as the base, subbase, and infiltration layers underneath the PAC. The test site constructed in 2004 is located in Northern of Taiwan in which the daily traffic has been light and limited. The porosity of the test track was investigated. The permeability coefficient of PAC was found severely degraded from 2.2×10-1 to 1.2×10-3 -cm/sec, after nine-year service, while the permeability below the surface course remained intact. Several field PAC cores were drilled and brought to evaluate the distribution of air voids by a medical X-ray CT nondestructively. The helical mode was set to administrate the X-ray CT scan and two cross-sectional virtual slices were exported in seconds for analyzing air voids distribution. It shows that the clogging of voids occurred merely 20mm below the surface and the porosity can reduce as much about 3%. It was also found that the roller compaction can decrease the porosity by 4%. The permeability reduction in this test site can attribute to the voids of PAC that were compacted by roller during the construction and filled by the dusts on the surface during the service.

Even in cases where there is no obvious family history of disease, genome sequencing may contribute to clinical diagnosis and management. Clinical application of the genome has not yet become routine, however, in part because physicians are still learning how best to utilize such information. As an educational research exercise performed in conjunction with our medical school human anatomy course, we explored the potential utility of determining the whole genome sequence of a patient who had died following a clinical diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Medical students performed dissection and whole genome sequencing of the cadaver. Gross and microscopic findings were more consistent with the fibrosing variant of nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP), as opposed to IPF per se. Variants in genes causing Mendelian disorders predisposing to IPF were not detected. However, whole genome sequencing identified several common variants associated with IPF, including a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs35705950, located in the promoter region of the gene encoding mucin glycoprotein MUC5B. The MUC5B promoter polymorphism was recently found to markedly elevate risk for IPF, though a particular association with NSIP has not been previously reported, nor has its contribution to disease risk previously been evaluated in the genome-wide context of all genetic variants. We did not identify additional predicted functional variants in a region of linkage disequilibrium (LD) adjacent to MUC5B, nor did we discover other likely risk-contributing variants elsewhere in the genome. Whole genome sequencing thus corroborates the association of rs35705950 with MUC5B dysregulation and interstitial lung disease. This novel exercise additionally served a unique mission in bridging clinical and basic science education.

To know the prevalence and the interaction among the principal cardiovascular risk factors such as hypercholesterolemia (HCL), hypertension (HTA), overweight, carbohydrates metabolism disturbances, and smoking, an urban survey was performed in the six Mexican Republic states, where the national population is more concentrated. This survey was transversally designed using the WHO type-III model in 120,005 adults from 6 highly populated urban centers (Mexico City, Guadalajara, León, Puebla, Monterrey andTijuana) were included. A blood sample from each person was obtained to quantify fasting glucose and cholesterol. Blood pressure, height and weight were measured using daily validated systems. Data were analyzed by a multicategorical conjunctive consolidation model and by multiple regression models. HCL global prevalence showed to be 43.3% for a population with an average age of 44.1 years. Female gender showed a slightly but statistically significant greater prevalence of HCL than male gender (44% vs 42.2%). From whole women population 33.2% declared to be in menopause, and 59.7% of them had HCL. In addition, HCL was directly related to body mass index (BMI). Thus, in those subjects with BMI prevalence 34.1%; while those with BMI was between 25 and 29.9, the HCL prevalence was 45.9%, and in those subjects with BMI > or = 30 Kg/m2, ranked a HCL prevalence of 47.3%. The prevalence of hypertension was 30.2% and 52.5% of them had HCL prevalence. Type-2 diabetes mellitus prevalence (DM-2) was 10.7%, 55.2% of them had HCL. In the group aged between 20 to 34 years old, the obesity was the principal determinant for higher HCL prevalence. The HCL prevalence showed to be quite similar in population with and without smoking. In conclusion, HCL prevalence shows 4 progressively increasing gradients associated with age, HTA, DM-2 and BMI.

Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) has attracted substantial attention during the past few years for its potential practical applications to image management. A variety of Relevance Feedback (RF) schemes have been designed to bridge the semantic gap between the low-level visual features and the high-level semantic concepts for an image retrieval task. Various Collaborative Image Retrieval (CIR) schemes aim to utilize the user historical feedback log data with similar and dissimilar pairwise constraints to improve the performance of a CBIR system. However, existing subspace learning approaches with explicit label information cannot be applied for a CIR task, although the subspace learning techniques play a key role in various computer vision tasks, e.g., face recognition and image classification. In this paper, we propose a novel subspace learning framework, i.e., Conjunctive Patches Subspace Learning (CPSL) with side information, for learning an effective semantic subspace by exploiting the user historical feedback log data for a CIR task. The CPSL can effectively integrate the discriminative information of labeled log images, the geometrical information of labeled log images and the weakly similar information of unlabeled images together to learn a reliable subspace. We formally formulate this problem into a constrained optimization problem and then present a new subspace learning technique to exploit the user historical feedback log data. Extensive experiments on both synthetic data sets and a real-world image database demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in improving the performance of a CBIR system by exploiting the user historical feedback log data.

Projected longer-term droughts and intense floods underscore the need to store more water to manage climate extremes. Here we show how depleted aquifers have been used to store water by substituting surface water use for groundwater pumpage (conjunctive use, CU) or recharging groundwater with surface water (managed aquifer recharge, MAR). Unique multi-decadal monitoring from thousands of wells and regional modeling datasets for the California Central Valley and central Arizona were used to assess CU and MAR. In addition to natural reservoir capacity related to deep water tables, historical groundwater depletion further expanded aquifer storage by ˜44 km3 in the Central Valley and by ˜100 km3 in Arizona, similar to or exceeding current surface reservoir capacity by up to three times. Local river water and imported surface water, transported through 100s of km of canals, is substituted for groundwater (≤15 km3 yr-1, CU) or is used to recharge groundwater (MAR, ≤1.5 km3 yr-1) during wet years shifting to mostly groundwater pumpage during droughts. In the Central Valley, CU and MAR locally reversed historically declining water-level trends, which contrasts with simulated net regional groundwater depletion. In Arizona, CU and MAR also reversed historically declining groundwater level trends in active management areas. These rising trends contrast with current declining trends in irrigated areas that lack access to surface water to support CU or MAR. Use of depleted aquifers as reservoirs could expand with winter flood irrigation or capturing flood discharges to the Pacific (0-1.6 km3 yr-1, 2000-2014) with additional infrastructure in California. Because flexibility and expanded portfolio options translate to resilience, CU and MAR enhance drought resilience through multi-year storage, complementing shorter term surface reservoir storage, and facilitating water markets.

Full Text Available Even in cases where there is no obvious family history of disease, genome sequencing may contribute to clinical diagnosis and management. Clinical application of the genome has not yet become routine, however, in part because physicians are still learning how best to utilize such information. As an educational research exercise performed in conjunction with our medical school human anatomy course, we explored the potential utility of determining the whole genome sequence of a patient who had died following a clinical diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF. Medical students performed dissection and whole genome sequencing of the cadaver. Gross and microscopic findings were more consistent with the fibrosing variant of nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP, as opposed to IPF per se. Variants in genes causing Mendelian disorders predisposing to IPF were not detected. However, whole genome sequencing identified several common variants associated with IPF, including a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP, rs35705950, located in the promoter region of the gene encoding mucin glycoprotein MUC5B. The MUC5B promoter polymorphism was recently found to markedly elevate risk for IPF, though a particular association with NSIP has not been previously reported, nor has its contribution to disease risk previously been evaluated in the genome-wide context of all genetic variants. We did not identify additional predicted functional variants in a region of linkage disequilibrium (LD adjacent to MUC5B, nor did we discover other likely risk-contributing variants elsewhere in the genome. Whole genome sequencing thus corroborates the association of rs35705950 with MUC5B dysregulation and interstitial lung disease. This novel exercise additionally served a unique mission in bridging clinical and basic science education.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The data contained in this file contain hydrographic and topographic data collected by the Fugro LADS Mk II system along the Lake Superior coast of Minnessota,...

... OF PRISONERS, YOUTH OFFENDERS, AND JUVENILE DELINQUENTS United States Code Prisoners and Parolees § 2... or a case with both superior program achievement and minor disciplinary infraction(s)). Advancements...

Superior vena cava syndrome is the obstruction of the superior vena cava or its main tributaries by benign or malignant lesions. The syndrome causes edema and engorgement of the vessels on the face, neck, and arms, nonproductive cough, and dyspnea. We discuss the case of a 48-year-old obese diabetic woman who was admitted with unstable angina. She had previously been diagnosed with superior vena cava syndrome. Urgent coronary artery bypass grafting was necessary Although thousands of coronary artery bypasses are performed every year, there are not many reports on patients with superior vena cava syndrome who successfully undergo cardiopulmonary bypass and coronary artery grafting with an internal mammary artery as the conduit. The results of the case and alternative recommended methods are discussed.

Shallow pools of liquid to collect low-temperature solar generated thermal energy are described. Narrow elongated trenches, grouped together over a wide area, are lined with a heat-absorbing black liner. The heat-absorbing liquid is kept separate from the thermal energy removing fluid by means such as clear polyethylene material. The covering for the pond may be a fluid or solid. If the covering is a fluid, fire fighting foam, continuously generated, or siloons are used to keep the surface covering clean and insulated. If the thermal energy removing fluid is a gas, a fluid insulation layer contained in a flat polyethlene tubing is used to cover the pond. The side of the tube directed towards the sun is treated to block out ultraviolet radiation and trap in infrared radiation.

Introduction: Knowledge on epidemiology of the disease in the contemporary world will help to develop appropriate strategies to curtail the transmission during an outbreak. This study was carried out during an outbreak of conjunctivitis in selected areas of Puducherry, South India, to assess the attack rate of conjunctivitis, identify factors associated with developing conjunctivitis and calculate household secondary attack rate (HSAR) of conjunctivitis and its correlates. Methodology: During December 2014, a community-based survey was conducted in a selected urban and rural area in Puducherry, South India. Simple random sampling was used to select primary sampling units and systematic sampling to select households. All individuals in the selected households were studied. A questionnaire was used to obtain data on sociodemographic characteristics, conjunctivitis during September-November, 2014, and number of household contacts who developed conjunctivitis within 7 days of index case. The attack rate and HSAR of conjunctivitis was expressed as percentage. Multivariate logistic regression was used to find factors independently associated with developing conjunctivitis and also 100% HSAR. Results: Of 3193 study participants from 772 households, 509 (15.9%, 95% confidence interval 14.7-17.2%) had an attack of conjunctivitis during the reference period. Of the 772 households, 218 (28.2%) had at least one case of conjunctivitis. Of 218 households, 33 (15.1%) households had 100% HSAR. Lower age, not being unemployed, low socioeconomic status, and residing in rural area were independently associated with developing conjunctivitis. Index case being male and living in a household with ≥5 members were independently associated with 100% HSAR. Conclusion: In the outbreak under study, more than one-fourth of households had at least one case of conjunctivitis and about one in every six individuals had an attack of conjunctivitis. PMID:27221677

To address the problems of the inferior localization and high probability of false rejection in existing self-recovery fragile watermarking algorithms,this paper proposes a new self-recovery fragile watermarking scheme with superior localization,and further discusses the probability of false rejection (PFR) and the probability of false acceptance (PFA) of the proposed scheme.Moreover,four measurements are defined to evaluate the quality of a recovered image.In the proposed algorithm,the original image is divided into 2×2 blocks to improve localization precision and decrease PFR under occurrence of random tampering.The PFR under occurrence of region tampering can be effectively decreased by randomly embedding the watermark of each block in conjunction with a novel method of tamper detection.Compared with the current self-recovery fragile watermarking algorithms,the proposed scheme not only resolves the tamper detection problem of self-embedding water marking,but also improves the robustness against the random tampering of self-embedding watermarking.In addition,the subjective measurements are provided to evaluate the performance of the self-recovery watermarking schemes for image authentication.

In conjunction with the US Department of Energy, DB Riley, Inc., is developing a highly advanced coal-fired power-generation plant called the Low Emission Boiler Systems (LEBS). By the year 2000, LEBS will provide the US electric power industry with a reliable, efficient, cost-effective, environmentally superior alternative to current technologies. LEBS incorporates significant advances in coal combustion, supercritical steam boiler design, environmental control, and materials development. The system will include a state-of-the-art steam cycle operating at supercritical steam conditions; a slagging combustor that produces vitrified ash by-products; low nitrogen oxide (NOx) burners; a new, dry, regenerable flue gas cleanup system (copper oxide process) for simultaneously capturing sulfur dioxide (SO{sub 2}) and nitrogen oxides (NOx); a pulse-jet fabric filter for particulate capture; and a low-temperature heat-recovery system. The copper oxide flue gas cleanup system, which has been under development at DOE`s Pittsburgh field center, removes over 98% of SO{sub 2} and 95% of NOx from flue gas. A new moving-bed design provides efficient sorbent utilization that lowers the cleanup process cost. The captured SO{sub 2} can be converted to valuable by-products such as sulfuric acid and/or element sulfur, and the process generates no waste.

Full Text Available Objective: To report the efficacy of marine actinomycetes in controlling Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus-induced conjunctivitis in experimental rabbit. Methods: The ethyl acetate extracts of the best isolates of actinomycetes from the soil samples of Rameswaram coastal regions, Tamil Nadu, India, were concentrated and re-constituted in buffer and used as actinomycetes ophthalmic suspension in this study. The anti-inflammatory efficacy of actinomycetes ophthalmic suspension was analysed in controlling S. aureusinduced conjunctivitis in rabbit in comparison with that of ciprofloxacin. Results: Among the four best isolates, the RAM25C4 isolate had the highest antimicrobial activity in the secondary screening. Shelf life studies indicated that the activity can be retained for 75 days when it was stored at 8 °C and the optimum temperature for storage was between –20°C and 30°C. The animal model studies indicated that there was a profound anti-conjunctivitis effect. The actinomycetes ophthalmic suspension had better activity than ciprofloxacin ophthalmic solution. Conclusions: This is the first time to report that Streptomyces bacillaris strain RAM25C4 has antimicrobial effect in controlling ophthalmic pathogen S. aureus under in vitro condition and the in vivo anti-inflammatory activity in controlling S. aureus-induced conjunctivitis.

A method is provided for growing a back surface contact on an imaging detector used in conjunction with back illumination. In operation, an imaging detector is provided. Additionally, a back surface contact (e.g. a delta-doped layer, etc.) is grown on the imaging detector utilizing a process that is performed at a temperature less than 450 degrees Celsius.

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for enhanced sequencing of complex molecules using surface-induced dissociation (SID) in conjunction with mass spectrometric analysis. Results demonstrate formation of a wide distribution of structure-specific fragments having wide sequence coverage useful for sequencing and identifying the complex molecules.

We evaluated the susceptibility of alpine ibex (Capra ibex ibex) to mycoplasmal conjunctivitis induced by a strain of Mycoplasma conjunctivae isolated from domestic sheep by inoculation of three alpine ibexes with 1.2 x 10(6) colony forming units of M. conjunctivae in the conjunctival sac of both eyes. One more ibex was exposed to the infection by contact. Experimental animals were free of M. conjunctivae and ocular Chlamydia infection before inoculation. Conjunctivitis and serous to mucous lachrymation became apparent in all four ibexes. Clinical signs began within 2 days in inoculated animals and 22 days after the beginning of the experiment in the contact ibex. M. conjunctivae was demonstrated up to the 63th day post-inoculation by cultural and PCR-methods. After 63 days, histopathologic examination revealed nearly normal ocular tissues, and M. conjunctivae could be detected from two eyes only. No other infectious agents which might cause conjunctivitis or keratitis, including Chlamydia psittaci and Branhamella ovis, were involved. Our investigation indicates that sheep-strains of M. conjunctivae can induce conjunctivitis in alpine ibex, thus showing pathogenicity of this organism for Caprinae species other than domestic sheep and goats.

Chlamydiosis is a significant factor contributing to the decline of koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) populations in Australia but has not previously been reported in South Australia. We describe conjunctivitis in three wild koalas from South Australia, with Chlamydia pecorum identified by quantitative PCR.

连接成分在现代汉语语篇中有时是显性的，有时是隐性的。通常认为隐性大于显性，这与汉语的意合特点相关；而有时显性显著则与特定文体相关。通过在同一汉语语篇中使用或不使用连接成分的对比分析，发现对连接成分的显性或隐性起决定作用的不是文体，而是该语篇的语用目的。% In modern Chinese texts, conjunctions are dominant or recessive. It is commonly accepted that conjunctions are more recessive in Chinese due to its parataxis, while sometimes they are dominant because of the specific literature genre. By contrast⁃ing the same Chinese text with and without conjunctions, conclusion is being made that the pragmatic purpose is deciding the dominant or recessive feature of conjunctions rather than the literature genre of the text.

This study investigated the impact of Alzheimer׳s disease (AD) on conjunctive and relational binding in episodic memory. Mild AD patients and controls had to remember item-color associations by imagining color either as a contextual association (relational memory) or as a feature of the item to be encoded (conjunctive memory). Patients׳ performance in each condition was correlated with cerebral metabolism measured by FDG-PET. The results showed that AD patients had an impaired capacity to remember item-color associations, with deficits in both relational and conjunctive memory. However, performance in the two kinds of associative memory varied independently across patients. Partial Least Square analyses revealed that poor conjunctive memory was related to hypometabolism in an anterior temporal-posterior fusiform brain network, whereas relational memory correlated with metabolism in regions of the default mode network. These findings support the hypothesis of distinct neural systems specialized in different types of associative memory and point to heterogeneous profiles of memory alteration in Alzheimer׳s disease as a function of damage to the respective neural networks.

In this paper we question the theoretical tenability of Hertwig, Benz, and Krauss's (2008) (HBK) argument that responses commonly taken as manifestations of the conjunction fallacy should be instead considered as reflecting "reasonable pragmatic and semantic inferences" because the meaning of and does not always coincide with that of the logical…

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Task interspersal procedures have been quite effective in increasing autistic children's motivation to learn. These procedures have typically demonstrated that the inclusion of reinforced maintenance tasks (previously learned tasks) increases responding to new acquisition tasks because more reinforcers, in general, are available. However, studies have not specifically addressed the effects of various schedules of reinforcement, used in conjunction with task interspersal procedures, upon respo...

Superior memorizers often employ the method of loci (MoL) to memorize large amounts of information. The MoL, known since ancient times, relies on a complex process where information to be memorized is bound to landmarks along mental routes in a previously memorized environment. However, functional magnetic resonance imaging data on groups of trained superior memorizer are rare. Based on the memorizing strategy reported by superior memorizers, we developed a scheme of the processes successively employed during memorizing and recalling digits and relate these to brain activation that is specific for the encoding and recall period. In the examined superior memorizers several regions, suggested to be involved in mental navigation and digit-to-word processing, were specifically activated during encoding: bilateral early visual cortex, retrosplenial cortex, left parahippocampus, left visual cortex, and left superior parietal cortex. Although the scheme suggests that some steps during encoding and recall seem to be analog, none of the encoding areas were specifically activated during the recall. Instead, we found strong activation in left anterior superior temporal gyrus, which we relate to recalling the sequential order of the digits, and right motor cortex that may be related to reciting the digits.

Full Text Available Superior memorizers often employ the method of loci (MoL to memorize large amounts of information. The method of loci, known since ancient times, relies on a complex process where information to be memorized is bound to landmarks along mental routes in a previously memorized environment. However, fMRI data on groups of trained superior memorizer are rare. Based on the memorizing strategy reported by superior memorizers we developed a scheme of the processes successively employed during memorizing and recalling digits and relate these to brain activation that is specific for the encoding and recall period. In the examined superior memorizers several regions, suggested to be involved in mental navigation and digit-to-word processing, were specifically activated during encoding: bilateral early visual cortex, retrosplenial cortex, left parahippocampus, left visual cortex, and left superior parietal cortex. Although the scheme suggests that some steps during encoding and recall seem to be analog, none of the encoding areas were specifically activated during the recall. Instead, we found strong activation in left anterior superior temporal gyrus, which we relate to recalling the sequential order of the digits, and right motor cortex that may be related to reciting the digits.

Background The result would be disastrous if the superior pulmonary sulcus tumor (Pancoast tumor) was misdiagnosed as degenerative cervical spine diseases.The aim of this study was to investigate the differential diagnosis methods of cervical radiculopathy and superior pulmonary sulcus tumor.Methods Clinical manifestations,physical,and radiological findings of 10 patients,whose main complaints were radiating shoulder and arm pain and later were diagnosed with superior pulmonary sulcus tumor,were reviewed and compared with those of cervical radiculopathy.Results Superior pulmonary sulcus tumor patients have shorter mean history and fewer complaints of neck pain or limitation of neck movement.Physical examination showed almost normal cervical spine range of motion.Spurling's neck compression test was negative in all patients.Anteroposterior cervical radiographs showed the lack of pulmonary air at the top of the affected lung in all cases and first rib encroachment in one case.The diagnosis of superior pulmonary sulcus tumor can be further confirmed by CT and MRI.Conclusions By the method of combination of history,physical examination,and radiological findings,superior pulmonary sulcus tumor can be efficiently differentiated from cervical radiculopathy.Normal motion range of the cervical spine,negative Spurling's neck compression test,and the lack of pulmonary air at the top of the affected lung in anteroposterior cervical radiographs should be considerad as indications for further chest radiograph examinations.

The solar cycle variations of various solar wind parameters are reviewed. It is shown that there is a gradual decrease in the duration of high-speed streams from the declining phase of solar cycle 20 through the ascending phase of cycle 21 and a corresponding decrease in the annual average of the proton speed toward solar maximum. Beta, the ratio of the proton thermal pressure to magnetic pressure, undergoes a significant solar cycle variation, as expected from the variation in the IMF. Individual hourly averages of beta often exceed unity with 20 cases exceeding 10 and one case as high as 25. The Alfven Mach number shows a solar cycle variation similar to beta, lower aboard solar maximum. High-speed streams can be seen clearly in epsilon and the y component of the interplanetary magnetic field.

Background In 1996 the guideline 'The Red Eye' was first published by the Dutch College of General Practitioners. The extent to which general practitioners adhere to this guideline is unclear. Recently, data on the management of infectious conjunctivitis by general practitioners became available from the Second Dutch National Survey of General Practice. We measured the age-specific incidence of infectious conjunctivitis, described its management by Dutch general practitioners, and then compared these findings with the recommendations made in the guideline. Methods In 2001, over a 12-month period, data from all patient contacts with 195 general practitioners were taken from electronic medical records. Registration was episode-oriented; all consultations dealing with the same health problem were grouped into disease episodes. Data concerning all episodes of infectious conjunctivitis (ICPC-code F70 and sub codes) were analysed. Results Over one year, 5,213 new and recurrent episodes of infectious conjunctivitis were presented to general practitioners from a population of N = 375,899, resulting in an overall incidence rate of 13.9 per 1000 person-years, varying from more than 80/1000 py in children up to one-year old, to less than 12/1000 py in children over the age of 4. Topical ophthalmic ointments were prescribed in 87% of the episodes, of which 80% was antibiotic treatment. Fusidic acid gel was most frequently prescribed (69%). In most episodes general practitioners did not adhere to the guideline. Conclusion In 2001, the management of infectious conjunctivitis by Dutch general practitioners was not in accordance with the recommendations of the consensus-based guideline published five years previously, despite its wide distribution. In 2006 this guideline was revised. Its successful implementation requires more than distribution alone. Probably the most effective way to achieve this is by following a model for systemic implementation. PMID:17868475

Full Text Available Abstract Background In 1996 the guideline 'The Red Eye' was first published by the Dutch College of General Practitioners. The extent to which general practitioners adhere to this guideline is unclear. Recently, data on the management of infectious conjunctivitis by general practitioners became available from the Second Dutch National Survey of General Practice. We measured the age-specific incidence of infectious conjunctivitis, described its management by Dutch general practitioners, and then compared these findings with the recommendations made in the guideline. Methods In 2001, over a 12-month period, data from all patient contacts with 195 general practitioners were taken from electronic medical records. Registration was episode-oriented; all consultations dealing with the same health problem were grouped into disease episodes. Data concerning all episodes of infectious conjunctivitis (ICPC-code F70 and sub codes were analysed. Results Over one year, 5,213 new and recurrent episodes of infectious conjunctivitis were presented to general practitioners from a population of N = 375,899, resulting in an overall incidence rate of 13.9 per 1000 person-years, varying from more than 80/1000 py in children up to one-year old, to less than 12/1000 py in children over the age of 4. Topical ophthalmic ointments were prescribed in 87% of the episodes, of which 80% was antibiotic treatment. Fusidic acid gel was most frequently prescribed (69%. In most episodes general practitioners did not adhere to the guideline. Conclusion In 2001, the management of infectious conjunctivitis by Dutch general practitioners was not in accordance with the recommendations of the consensus-based guideline published five years previously, despite its wide distribution. In 2006 this guideline was revised. Its successful implementation requires more than distribution alone. Probably the most effective way to achieve this is by following a model for systemic implementation.

A process including forming a photovoltaic solar cell on a substrate, the photovoltaic solar cell comprising an anchor positioned between the photovoltaic solar cell and the substrate to suspend the photovoltaic solar cell from the substrate. A surface of the photovoltaic solar cell opposite the substrate is attached to a receiving substrate. The receiving substrate may be bonded to the photovoltaic solar cell using an adhesive force or a metal connecting member. The photovoltaic solar cell is then detached from the substrate by lifting the receiving substrate having the photovoltaic solar cell attached thereto and severing the anchor connecting the photovoltaic solar cell to the substrate. Depending upon the type of receiving substrate used, the photovoltaic solar cell may be removed from the receiving substrate or remain on the receiving substrate for use in the final product.

Three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical nanoscale architectures comprised of building blocks, with specifically engineered morphologies, are expected to play important roles in the fabrication of 'next generation' microelectronic and optoelectronic devices due to their high surface-to-volume ratio as well as opto-electronic properties. Herein, a series of well-defined 3D hierarchical rutile TiO2 architectures (HRT) were successfully prepared using a facile hydrothermal method without any surfactant or template, simply by changing the concentration of hydrochloric acid used in the synthesis. The production of these materials provides, to the best of our knowledge, the first identified example of a ledgewise growth mechanism in a rutile TiO2 structure. Also for the first time, a Dye-sensitized Solar Cell (DSC) combining a HRT is reported in conjunction with a high-extinction-coefficient metal-free organic sensitizer (D149), achieving a conversion efficiency of 5.5%, which is superior to ones employing P25 (4.5%), comparable to state-of-the-art commercial transparent titania anatase paste (5.8%). Further to this, an overall conversion efficiency 8.6% was achieved when HRT was used as the light scattering layer, a considerable improvement over the commercial transparent/reflector titania anatase paste (7.6%), a significantly smaller gap in performance than has been seen previously.

Using the total electron content data obtained by the Ulysses Solar Corona Experiment (SCE) during the first solarconjunction in summer 1991, two data sets were selected, one associated with a coronal hole and the other associated with coronal streamer crossings. In order to determine coronal streamer density profiles, the electron content of the tracking passes embedded in a coronal streamer were corrected for the contributions from coronal hole densities.

A solar heating and cooling is described which is designed to furnish 90 percent of the overall heating load, 70 percent of the cooling load and 100 percent of the domestic hot water load. The building has two floors with a total of 12,000 square feet gross area. The system has 120 flat-plate liquid solar panels with a net area of 2,200 square feet. Five 3 ton Arkla solar assisted absorption units provide the cooling, in conjunction with a 3,000 gallon chilled water storage tank. Two 3,000 gallon storage tanks are provided with one designated for summer use, whereas both tanks are utilized during winter.

The objective of this experiment was to demonstrate electrical power generation using a small free-piston Stirling engine and linear alternator in conjunction with a parabolic solar collector. A test bed collector, formerly used at the JPL Table Mountain Observatory, was renovated and used to obtain practical experience and to determine test receiver performance. The collector was mounted on a two-axis tracker, with a cold water calorimeter mounted on the collector to measure its efficiency, while a separate, independently tracking radiometer was used to measure solar insolation. The solar receiver was designed to absorb energy from the collector, then transfer the resulting thermal energy to the Stirling engine. Successful testing of receiver/collector assembly yielded valuable inputs for design of the Stirling engine heater head.

A method and apparatus for efficient manufacture, assembly and production of solar energy. In one aspect, the apparatus may include a number of modular solar receiver assemblies that may be separately manufactured, assembled and individually inserted into a solar collector array housing shaped to receive a plurality of solar receivers. The housing may include optical elements for focusing light onto the individual receivers, and a circuit for electrically connecting the solar receivers.

Originally based on a workshop on “Development of Solar Research”, held in Freiburg/Breisgau, this book contains articles on megalithic structures, the Nebra sky-disk, ancient sun cults, the observation of sunspots, the photography of the sun during eclipses, eclipse maps and expeditions, solar telescopes, solar physics during the Nazi era, archives of solar observations, scientific ballooning for solar research, site-testing on the Canary Islands, as well as on international cooperation.

Full Text Available It is shown in the article that since the establishment in 1992 and until now the social and health monitoring (SHM operates as a complex open system of extended collection and processing of heterogeneous data about the parameters of the environment, socio-economic indicators of living of the population of the country’s regions, medical and demographic characteristics of society as a whole and of individual population groups. As part of the SHM system Rospotrebnadzor annually performs hundreds of thousands of instrumental measurements of objects in the environment of the Russian Federation. These federal and regional information assets have tremendous analytical capacity and allow a knowledge-based processing of information in the "health-environment" system for a variety of management tasks of sanitary and epidemiological situation. Changing of the general paradigm of control and supervisory activities of Rospotrebnadzor and giving a fundamentally new status of control measures to researches and measurements of the system of social and hygienic monitoring without interaction with legal entities and individual entrepreneurs were important bases for further improvement of the SHM. The development of SHM in conjunction with the risk-based supervision model can significantly improve analytical capabilities, effectiveness and efficiency of each system. This development requires the adoption of a new edition of The statements of the SHM, the development of a scientific approach to the formation of "risk profiles" of objects of sanitary and epidemiological surveillance; the development of methodological approaches to the selection of points and formation of programs of instrumental studies of air, water and soil as the control activities in the areas of influence of economic entities. Of great current interest are the development and consolidation of regulatory requirements for the registration of the results of sampling and measurement in the

Untypical corrosion damage including erosions combined with the build-up of titanium oxide as a corrosion product on the surface of explanted Nitinol spinal rods in the areas where it was in contact with titanium pedicle screw head is reported. It was suggested that Nitinol rods might have inferior fretting corrosion resistance compared with that made of titanium or CoCr. Fretting corrosion of Nitinol spinal rods with titanium (Ti6Al4V) pedicle screws were tested in-vitro by conducting a series of potentiostatic measurements of the peak-to-peak values of fretting corrosion current under bending in a 10% solution of calf serum in PBS. The test included Nitinol rods locked in titanium pedicle screws of different designs. Performance of commercially available titanium (Ti6Al4V) and CoCr spinal rods was also investigated for a comparison. Corrosion damage observed after the in-vitro tests was studied using SEM and EDAX analysis and was compared with patterns on Nitinol rods retrieved 12months after initial surgery. Metal ions level was measured in the test media after in-vitro experiments and in the blood and tissues of the patients who had the rods explanted. The results of this study revealed that Nitinol spinal rods locked in Ti pedicle screws are susceptible to fretting corrosion demonstrating higher fretting corrosion current compared with commercially used Ti6Al4V and CoCr rods. On the surface of Nitinol rods after in-vitro tests and on those retrieved from the patients similar corrosion patterns were observed. Improved resistance to fretting corrosion was observed with Nitinol rods in the in-vitro tests where pedicle screws were used with a stiffer locking mechanism. Since the development of the localized corrosion damage might increase the risk of premature fatigue failure of the rods and result in leaching of Ni ions, it is concluded that Nitinol rods should not be used in conjunction with Ti pedicle screws without special protection especially where the